


One and the Same

by DaisyDogOx



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi is very sassy and closer to his Third Semester personality here, Angst, Body Swap AU, Bodyswap, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Medical Procedures, No Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Persona 5 Spoilers, i will return! eventually. probably., minor tho - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26161870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyDogOx/pseuds/DaisyDogOx
Summary: He nearly tripped over something on his way to the bathroom and froze in his tracks as he passed in front of the mirror.The reflection that stared back at him wasn’t his own, but someone he was all-too familiar with.Goro Akechi.-Upon waking up as each other, Goro and Akira realize they must play each others parts or risk all of their plans crumbling in a single day. It just so happens the two of them are terrible actors and know less about each other than they realize.-On Hiatus
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 41
Kudos: 116





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warnings for individual chapters will be given in the notes, when applicable. 
> 
> Dates will be given and explained as to what happens in canon on that date, because I'm not so heartless as to make you look up the game calendar. I've done that enough for all of us.
> 
> -
> 
> September 1st  
> Summer vacation ends and the Thieves go back to school. The ranking system is implemented on the Phan-site.

He was woken up by sunlight streaming in the room and he pulled the blanket further over his head. Normally the dirty window was enough to block the light and let him sleep, so why did it seem so bright now? Maybe he’d gotten up in the middle of the night and opened it to let some air in. 

He didn’t bother thinking much about it as he nodded off again. 

It felt like he’d just closed his eyes when his phone’s alarm went off. He reached for the shelf where it usually sat and instead banged his hand against something that crashed to the floor. 

_Please don’t be the ramen bowl from that trip to Ogikubo with Ryuji_ , he thought tiredly.

He finally emerged from his blanket cocoon and was met with an unfamiliar sight. Gone was the dark wood of Leblanc and endless trinkets on the shelves. Instead he was met with bare white walls and minimalist furniture. 

He was about to lie back down and brush it off as a dream when he realized the alarm was still going off. 

He took a few unsteady steps across the room and followed the sound to a desk, where an unfamiliar phone sat. It unlocked for him anyway and he silenced it.

He studied the phone. The wallpaper was a generic looking swirl of blue that he was pretty sure was one of the defaults that came with the phone, and the calendar app in the corner read _Thursday, September 1st_. He scrolled through the camera roll and his confusion only grew as he realized most of the pictures were of food, not that there were many to begin with. 

_Definitely dreaming._

He nearly tripped over something on his way to the bathroom and froze in his tracks as he passed in front of the mirror.

The reflection that stared back at him wasn’t his own, but someone he was all-too familiar with.

Goro Akechi.

_No. No no no no no. This isn’t happening. This is a dream. This is a stress-induced dream because I’m going back to school tomorrow and the pressure is ramping up, and I’m seeing myself as Akechi because he’s been speaking out against us._

He squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them again he was still looking at the detective.

“This can’t be happening,” he murmured, and froze at the voice that came out of him.

He jumped as the phone chimed again.

It was a calendar alert for something called _TXN News Interview._ He clicked on it and a whole itinerary popped up, complete with the name of the driver he was expecting within the half hour. Akechi was nothing if not organized.

He turned to the closet that was ajar and held what looked like two school uniforms and the grey blazer he’d seen the boy wear on TV before.

“It looks like today I’m Goro Akechi,” he said aloud. “This is all just a dream, but I’ll play along.”

* * *

The first thing he was aware of was the weight on his chest. He could barely breathe and he rolled to his side. The weight disappeared and someone cried out. His every nerve was suddenly on high alert and he jolted up, pushing his bangs out of his face. He held his breath and listened for whoever was in his room. Then he realized he wasn’t _in_ his room.

Instead of the sleek furniture and too-big windows he was used to, he was met with rotting wood and a persistent cloud of dust in the air. 

“You startled me there,” came a voice. “Did you have a nightmare or something?”

He froze as a cat jumped up on the bed-- _whose bed was he in_ \--and began to groom itself.

He was absolutely certain he’d gone back to his apartment the night before. He didn’t remember leaving again, which was… concerning, to say the least. Had he been kidnapped? Threatened? _Drugged?_ He knew he wasn’t exactly popular, but he didn’t think the Phantom Thives’s supporters would go so far as to _abduct him_. It was going to be a PR nightmare to deal with if he was seen leaving the building, wherever he was.

The cat was still staring at him with those bright blue eyes, and he realized he recognized the animal. It was Kurusu’s, the one he was always carrying around in his school bag. But if Kurusu’s cat was here--

He glanced around. The voice hadn’t sounded like Kurusu’s, but he was sure the boy was nearby. He never let the cat out of his sight.

“Are you okay?” it asked, and he looked down to realize it was the _cat_ who was speaking.

“What…?” he started, and froze at the voice that came out of him.

“Akira?”

_This is a dream. I’ve done too many interviews about the Phantom Thieves lately, and now I’m dreaming I’m him. I’m not actually in his house. I’m going to wake up any second now and go back to having my usual nightmares, instead of this mess._

“Hello~” the cat--Mona, had he called it?--said. “Earth to Akira, come in Akira!”

_Why wasn’t he waking up?_

“Hey, did you hit your head or something? C’mon, say something at least!”

“What time is it?” he managed, his voice strangled.

“Too early, that’s for sure. I don’t even think Sojiro has opened up shop yet,” it said with a laugh. “Let’s go back to bed, you’ve got another hour before you have to get up for school.”

“School?”

“Yeah, your summer vacation ended yesterday. Are you sure you’re alright?”

_It’s just a dream. I’m going to go back to sleep, and when I wake up again I’ll be myself again._

It had to be a dream.

* * *

“Now, Akechi-kun, do you still stand firm in your beliefs that the Phantom Thieves are wrong in what they’re doing?”

Akira’s mouth went dry. He’d been prepped beforehand on what kinds of questions they were going to ask and what kind of tone the show was looking for. It wasn’t like his school trip with a live audience, but rather just him and the hosts. He’d been doing fine so far in giving noncommittal answers. 

He knew the topic of the Phantom Thieves would inevitably come up, but he still found himself caught off guard. 

_It’s all just a dream, isn’t it?_

He tried to hide his smirk. “Actually, my opinion has changed.”

The two hosts shared a look. “Really? And what do you think of them now?”

“I believe that justice is on their side after all.”

“What brought on such a… drastic change in perspective?”

“Consider it a change of heart,” he said with a laugh.

One of the men looked at the camera and gestured for them to stop rolling. 

“Akechi-kun, are you certain you want that to be your statement on the matter? We could always shoot it again--”

“I meant what I said. Are we done here?”

“I suppose so--”

He checked the phone. It looked like he had forty five minutes to himself before he had another interview, and then afternoon classes. He wasn’t sure what school the boy went to, but he’d figure it out. If he went at all, that was.

“Do you know of a good place to eat around here? I skipped breakfast.”

“There’s a café about a block west,” one of the cameramen told him.

He thanked him and grabbed the bag he’d found on the floor of the apartment. He’d gone through it on the ride to the studio and found the boy’s wallet, as well as a key on a Phoenix Ranger Featherman R lanyard, some loose pens and paper, and a few tubes of makeup.

_Okay, a block west. Can’t be that hard._

That’s what he thought, anyway, but fifteen minutes later he had no idea where he was going.

“I should’ve asked what the name of the place was,” he muttered.

A voice made him freeze.

“Do you think that’s him?” 

His hands slowly clenched into fists and he shoved them in his pockets.

“The hair looks like it, and the jacket.”  
  
“We should get an autograph!”

 _Of course,_ he realized. _You’re not a criminal transfer student today. You’re a celebrity._

Two girls in Kosei uniforms scampered up to him.

“You’re Akechi-kun, right? The Detective Prince?”

“What? Yeah.”

They gasped. “He talks so informally,” one of them whispered.

“Can we have your autograph?” the other asked.

He grabbed for one of the loose papers in the bag.

“I thought you said he _never_ did autographs,” the second girl hissed.

“He doesn’t!”

Akira scrawled something and handed the sheet to the girls, who were staring at him as though he’d summoned his persona in the middle of the street. “Do either of you know of a café near here?”

They nodded mutely.

“Can you… show me?”

* * *

“Time to get up!” came a cheery voice.

He slowly opened his eyes and drew back as a black and white muzzle filled his vision. He was still stuck in the ridiculous dream.

“A-ki-ra!” the cat said, jumping on him with each syllable. “You already slept in, you’re gonna be late if you don’t get up!”

He didn’t want to be Akira Kurusu for the day. He barely wanted to be Goro Akechi most days, he didn’t want to put on an act as someone else.

Mona nipped at his hand and he whipped around to face him. “Why you little--!”

“I had to make sure you were feeling okay,” he said matter-of-factly.

“By _biting me_?”

“C’mon, that wasn’t a real bite. Now hurry up or you won’t even have time for breakfast!”

His stomach growled as he realized the smell of coffee and spices hung in the air. Well, if he was stuck living as Kurusu, he could at least get some decent coffee out of it.

He dragged himself up and picked up a crumpled uniform from the floor. Did the boy really live like this? Everything was a _mess_ and he fought the urge to start dusting.

Mona had disappeared downstairs and he got changed and grabbed the phone that had been steadily buzzing since he opened his eyes again. The lock screen was a picture of one of the boys Kurusu was always hanging out with--Sakamoto, he was pretty sure. It unlocked at his touch and the wallpaper was Kurusu at some kind of festival, with a shaved ice halfway to the ground. There was more expression in that picture of him losing his treat than Goro had ever seen before, and it made his lips curl back.

He opened up the messages app and was hit by a wave of texts that showed no signs of slowing. He recognized Makoto Niijima’s picture, as well as Futaba Sakura, and Takamaki and Sakamoto. He couldn’t tell who was sending what because the names next to the contacts were ridiculous.

  
Kung Fu Panda  
if any of you are late today i will personally suspend phantom thief activities until you get your schedules in order  
#1 Shiho Stan  
omg queen taking charge? akira get in here and defend ur title!  
bonkin  
where is he anyway  
Lobsters™  
perhaps still asleep?  
bonkin  
dude hes gonna be late  
Kung Fu Panda  
coming from you, that says a lot  
Lobsters™  
where is futaba as well? i want her to change my name  
#1 Shiho Stan  
she came online at like 3am to ask a question about computers and disappeared again, probably sleeping  
Lobsters™  
but none of us know anything about computers  
#1 Shiho Stan  
yah she said its easier for her to work thru problems if she talks at someone  
bonkin  
you know you can change ur name urself right yusuke?  
bonkin  
right yusuke??  
bonkin  
yusuke?????

There was no end to the messages and he closed the screen. Kurusu certainly led an… interesting group. He knew he’d have time to think through things later and made his way downstairs.

“About time,” the man behind the counter said gruffly.

“Hey, you left your glasses upstairs. I think they’re on the desk from last night,” Mona said.

“Where…” His face burned. “Where’s the restroom?”

Sojiro gave him a look. “You feeling alright?”

_Obviously not, I’m stuck in this damn nightmare and can’t wake up!_

Mona tilted his head towards the door to his left and he slipped inside, his hands shaking. He hated feeling out of control. Hated that even in his dreams, he was lost and confused.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror, not that it was really him. Without the glasses to hide behind, Goro could see the cunning leader of the Phantom Thieves staring back at him. His eyes were too sharp, always taking in everything around him, studying, waiting for the right moment to strike. Akira Kurusu was not the helpless boy he pretended to be.

There was a sharp knock at the door and he jumped. “If you’re sick you don’t have to go in, you know. There’s no point if you’re not gonna be able to focus. But you’d better actually be sick and not just trying to get an extra vacation day outta me.”

“I’m fine,” he said, and he winced at how his voice cracked.

Mona was waiting for him outside with a pair of glasses in his mouth, and he slowly took them from the cat and frowned as he put them on.

_I don’t see any difference. Is the prescription that weak? Or are they just for show?_

He sighed and slung his bag over his shoulder, and stumbled as the cat jumped in.

“You didn’t think you were gonna leave without me, did you? After I got your glasses for you this morning and everything?”

Did the animal ever shut up? How had Kurusu not gotten caught yet?

“Akiraaaa,” it whined. “C’mon, or we won’t have time to talk with Ryuji and the others before class!”

Oh, it was going to be a very long day.

* * *

He wouldn’t mind not waking up from the dream, Akira realized as he was driven back to the apartment after school. Even though the detective wasn’t exactly popular at the moment because of the Phantom Thieves, he still had loyal fans that seemed genuinely excited to see him out and about. He’d been asked for autographs and photos, and nobody treated him like some kind of criminal. The worst that had happened was he was ignored by most of his classmates, and he was already used to that.

They arrived and he thanked the driver, and made his way inside. He got his first good look at the apartment since that morning and frowned. Akira knew he didn’t have much room to talk because he lived in an attic and just did his best to fill the empty space with gifts from his friends, but Akechi’s taste in furniture and design was awful.

“Would it kill him to put up a poster or two? I feel like I’m in some kind of fancy hospital without all the instruments.”

He tossed aside the tie, grateful again that Shujin’s uniform didn’t require one, and made his way to the kitchen. The refrigerator was almost completely empty, save for some bottles of water-- _Did Goro Akechi drink sparkling water? What kind of monster was he?--_ and a large tupperware of rice with a date scrawled on top that was long past. The freezer didn’t fare much better, holding only instant meals.

It was clear that he’d have to do some shopping if he didn’t want to starve. According to the map on his phone there was a supermarket only a few blocks away and he grabbed his coat.

Finding it was much easier than finding the café that morning, and he was able to get what he needed without much trouble.

Until he got in line to pay, that was.

“That’s him!” someone whispered.

“Wait, really?”

“Oh, I should be filming this!”

“You’re Goro Akechi, right? The detective from TV?”

“Yes?”

He turned around, already putting on a smile for whoever wanted a photo or an autograph. Instead a fist collided with his nose and he fell to the floor.

“What… the hell…?”

“That’s what you get for speaking out against the Phantom Thieves. They’re the best thing that’s happened to this country and they’re going to fix it, unlike the broken system _you_ work for.”

He wiped at his nose and his hand came away bloody. The man drew his fist back again and Akira flinched, and he laughed.

“Maybe now you’ll think twice before resisting them.”

 _That’s someone whose heart we should change_ , he thought weakly. _And this is way too intense for a normal dream._

His basket and everything in it had gone skittering across the floor and he dropped to his knees and started to pick things up. Everyone else in line just stared at him, and one woman kicked a can of sauce away from him when he got close.

His nose was still bleeding by the time he got to a register, and the cashier gave him a horrified look. He just paid for his things and dropped his change in the jar advertising some charity.

When he finally got back to the apartment his sleeves were bloody and he was starting to get worried the blow had actually broken his nose. Any thoughts of dinner forgotten, he shed his blazer-- _no, not his, Akechi’s_ \--and raided the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. It wasn’t until he was taping the wound that he realized it was remarkably well stocked, as though the boy were prepared for any injury that wouldn’t require hospitalization.

Satisfied with his patch up, or at least that he wouldn’t bleed in his food as he cooked, he returned to the kitchen. He knew the recipe by heart and started with the chicken and rice.

Before long the apartment smelled of curry and he dished out a plate for himself. Almost instinctively he’d made enough to feed four, rather than one, and he put the rest in a tupperware and wrote the date on it before sticking it in the fridge.

He spent the evening studying the apartment, unable to sit still even after everything that had happened. If anything he needed a distraction from the dull ache in his nose.

As it turned out, there wasn’t much to learn about Akechi. The shelves were full of difficult looking books but they were coated in dust and obviously hadn’t been read in awhile, if ever. The furniture was nice enough but far too clean. The whole place reminded him more of a display in a magazine Ann had shown him one day. It certainly didn’t feel lived in.

The one thing that caught his eye was the toy ray gun perched on the shelf. Akira couldn’t help but laugh. _Is that… Red Hawk’s blaster from Phoenix Ranger Featherman R?_

He grabbed the box and realized it was glass, not plastic, that protected it and he tried to pry the lid off with little luck. _What, he doesn’t want anyone touching his toys?_

He gave it one more try before giving up and all but tossing it on the coffee table with a sigh of disgust. What even was the point in snooping if he couldn’t have fun with the stuff he found?

He ended up making his way back to the bedroom and started digging through the closet. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping to find, as long as it was entertaining. Instead he found more clothes and shoes in boxes.

Was Goro Akechi truly so boring? What would the media think if they found out their precious Detective Prince was about as exciting as the science textbooks on his shelf?

He ended up going through the phone, scrolling through his food blog and other social media.

_The pancakes here are fluffy and perfect! The cream combined with the strawberry jam is like a miracle in my mouth!_

Akira snorted. He knew the detective was hiding something. Nobody was that happy all the time. He was going to find out what it was, he vowed as he nodded off.

* * *

He had thought acting as Goro Akechi, second coming of the Detective Prince, had been bad. It was nothing compared to being Akira Kurusu, leader of the Phantom Thieves.

Goro wasn’t entirely sure _why_ he was playing along. Maybe he was hoping the people in front of him were real and he’d be able to get some useful information out of them, and that this long, drawn out nightmare would be worth suffering through.

It didn’t change the fact that he was pretty sure he preferred the usual ones. They were awful, but at least he knew how they ended. This one felt like a guessing game with no end in sight.

They were gathered on the accessway overlooking Central Street in Shibuya, and Goro only realized ten minutes into their meeting that it was their hideout.

“So what do you think of the rankings on the Phan-site?” Sakamoto asked, practically bouncing with excitement. “We should totally be able to find someone huge to target next, and make some cash!”

 _Amateurs_ , Goro thought venomously. _Discussing their plans in public with no idea who could be listening in on them._

“What about that villain in the cognitive world?” Kitagawa asked, and Goro stiffened. Mona poked his head out of the bag and the sensation of whiskers on the back of his neck nearly made him scream.

“They’re inducing mental shutdowns,” Niijima said. “That’s not something we can turn a blind eye to.”

“Yeah, but we don’t got any clues…”

_If only they knew._

He tried to follow their conversation but it went nowhere, and having the cat breathing down his neck didn’t help his already lackluster focus. He must’ve zoned out because Mona nipped his ear and he jumped.

“Again--?!” he demanded, and realized they were all looking at him.

“We asked what you thought about targeting the culprit behind the mental shutdowns,” Takamaki said.

“Akira’s been kinda off today,” Mona said. “We might stop by the clinic on the way home.”

“Going back to the mental shutdowns,” Niijima said, “there’s no evidence.”

“Isn’t your sister investigating those cases?” came a voice from the floor.

The girl sighed. “I can pry and ask about it, but she’ll just get angry and tell me to mind my own business.”

“Does she have a personal laptop or something? If she won’t talk to you, you could always just extract the data.”

“Don’t tell me--”

Sakura held up a flash drive. “Plug this in and it’ll clone the whole harddrive. It’ll even bypass the OS password, and it leaves no trace. It’s something I’ve been working on for awhile. Can you do it?”

She hesitated. “...Fine. But I don’t know when she’ll bring her laptop home, so don’t expect instant results.”

They broke for the day and Goro tried to disappear into the crowd, but a hand on his elbow stopped him.

“Where are you going? Let’s get food or something, I feel like we haven’t hung out in forever,” Sakamoto said.

“We literally went to the beach with you three days ago,” Mona said flatly.

“That was with everyone! I meant just the two of us.”

“Are you coming on to me?” Goro asked uncertainly.

“No! Dude, c’mon.”

“Ryuji, were you even listening earlier? We’re going to the clinic and then we’re going home. Right?”

“You heard the cat,” he deadpanned.

“What?! Since when do you take orders from _Morgana_?”

He mustered up as much politeness as he could and put on a smile. “I’m not feeling well. We can hang out another time, okay?”

“Alright… feel better soon. Wait, aren’t you taking the train back with Futaba?”

He was already gone.

He must’ve dozed off on the train because he was woken up by yet another nip to the hand, and he thought about just how much he wanted to kill the cat.

Instead he pushed his anger further down and started down the backstreets he knew far too well for someone who was supposed to be fighting the Phantom Thieves.

“Hey, aren’t you going to stop by Tae’s? It felt like you had a temperature there when we were with everyone.”

_No, that was me trying not to kill you all ahead of schedule._

“I’m just going to go to bed,” he said, doing his best to offer a tired smile.

The cat frowned. “It’s still so early…”

“We have school tomorrow, don’t we? Better to get to bed early.”

He turned the corner towards Leblanc before Mona could protest and waved off whatever comments Sakura had for him. He shed the uniform and pulled the blanket over his head.

_It’s just a nightmare. It’ll be over soon. It has to be._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the text conversations don't look like text conversations (ie you can't see the blue bubbles) try it in a different browser. It's basically unreadable otherwise (sorry).
> 
> -
> 
> September 2nd  
> Makoto extracts the data from Sae's laptop

“Rise and shine!” a familiar voice singsonged, and he pulled the blanket up over his head.

“Twenty more minutes,” he muttered.

He froze at the voice that came out of him.

“Mona…?”

“The one and only. Did you hit your head again or something?”

He practically fell out of bed and rushed downstairs to the bathroom, where he studied his reflection. He was himself again.

_That was one hell of a dream._

There was a knock at the door and he jumped. “Kid, you okay in there?”

“Fine!” He turned back to his reflection and smiled. _Great, actually._

Morgana was waiting for him with his glasses in his mouth and Akira took them. “I had the _weirdest_ dream last night.”

“Tell me over breakfast, but get ready for school first. You don’t want to be late two days in a row.”

“What do you mean? Today’s the first day back from vacation, right?”

Sojiro gave him a look. “You were acting funny yesterday, too. You sure you’re up to go in today?”

“I’ll be fine. I want to see the others, anyway.”

Futaba, who had been sitting quietly at the counter and browsing the Phan-site on her phone, suddenly cleared her throat. _“Can you please continue this discussion after you put pants on?”_

Akira glanced down and realized he was still in his pajama top and boxers, and hurried upstairs as Morgana laughed.

His phone was buzzing and he unlocked it and went to the messages, where a stream of texts was already in motion as usual.

Tech Master >:3  
akira just ruined my innocence (×﹏×)  
Tech Master >:3  
ill never be the same again  
Tech Master >:3  
im done for, youll have to find another navigator  
bonkin  
f  
#1 Shiho Stan  
f  
Kung Fu Panda  
F  
Lobsters™  
i still dont understand why you all say f  
Tech Master >:3  
god inari how many times do we have to explain memes to you (`皿´＃)  
Kung Fu Panda  
what did akira do to you  
Tech Master >:3  
came downstairs while the cafe was open in just a shirt and boxers  
Tech Master >:3  
i thought sojiro was gonna kill him  
not like the cafe ever has any customers  
Tech Master >:3  
im telling sojiro you said that (✧ω✧)

_Shit_. “Futaba, wait, please!” he yelled downstairs, and he could hear her laughing.

**Tech Master >:3** changed **Nyakira's** nickname to **Nyakira Found Dead in Miami**  
#1 Shiho Stan  
f  
bonkin  
f  
Kung Fu Panda  
F  
Lobsters™  
i dont get it, but f  
Tech Master >:3  
INARI MEMED Lobsters™  
futaba please change my name  
Lobsters™  
futaba please  
Lobsters™  
futaba?

Akira pulled on his uniform in record time-- _he didn’t remember folding it the night before_ \--and hurried downstairs to see Sojiro trying to wrench the phone from Futaba, who was putting up a good fight.

Neither of them seemed to notice Morgana, who was creeping closer and closer, and jumped and grabbed the phone from them before racing upstairs.

“Saved by the cat!” she cried. “Victory!”

“Good luck getting it away from him,” Akira said as he took a seat at the counter. Sojiro put a plate of curry in front of him and he nodded his thanks and took a bite.

“So tell me about this weird dream of yours. Provided it’s not one of _those_ kinds of dreams.”

Futaba choked on her coffee. “ _Sojiro_! Gross!”

“So I wake up in this apartment I don’t recognize--”

 _“Boys are disgusting!”_ she snapped, grabbing her plate.

“Futaba, where are you going?”

“Anywhere other than here!”

“Futaba, wait!” Akira called. “I didn’t even get to the part with Akechi!”

She screamed and disappeared out the door.

“I don’t think you’re gonna get that plate back,” he said with a laugh.

“I’m sure I’ll find it in her room a month from now.” The clock chimed and Sojiro sighed. “You don’t have to wash your dishes today but you’ll be making up for it later. Just get to school.”

“But my dream--”

“Tell me about it later.”

“Just for the record, it wasn’t that kind of weird--”

“Get out of here!”

He grabbed his bag from the door and whistled, and Morgana jumped in. “Glad you’re not trying to ditch me today.”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb, or I’ll bite you again.”

_“What?”_

* * *

His head slowly fell forward, until it slipped and he snapped awake. He looked around frantically and realized he was back in his apartment.

He stepped on something plastic and swore under his breath as he rushed to the mirror. He was himself. The nightmare was over. What had _happened?_ His nose was taped and the dark circles under his eyes looked to be more like bruising than the usual rings from exhaustion. Was his nose _broken?_ When had that happened? Was his nightmare yesterday because he’d been knocked out in some kind of fight? He touched it and hissed at the pain.

What he’d stepped on had been a bottle of aspirin and he choked two down dry. He had an interview that day, and a broken nose was going to be impossible to explain.

The phone in his pocket was ringing and he fumbled for it, freezing as he recognized the number. He answered it and held it away from his ear.

_“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?! Do you realize how hard I’ve worked to get where I am? And now you seem set on destroying it in a single day!”_

“Shido-san, I--”

_“Don’t speak my name!”_

He winced. “My apologies, truly, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think I was in some kind of fight, my nose might be broken and I can’t remember--”

_“Have you seen any form of social media today?”_

“...No, I just woke up.”

_“You’re trending. Take a good long look at why, and the next time I call you’d better have a damn good explanation.”_

“Sir, I--”

The call ended. _Out of one nightmare and right into another._

He let his feed load as he made his way to the kitchen and froze. The medicine on the floor had been strange, but he’d brushed it off as him being in such a pained daze he couldn’t put things back. It wouldn’t have been the first time. But the _kitchen_ … Goro didn’t cook. He had a talent for burning things in the microwave. The fancy pots and pans in the cabinets were little more than a decoration to him. _So why were several pots soaking in the sink?_ The only thing he could think of was that someone had been in his apartment. Someone had cooked for him. What else had they done? He patted himself down and gave a sigh of relief as he realized his nose was the only injury he could find. Had this stranger brought him back after his mysterious incident? Had they… cared for him?

A video started playing on his phone and tore him from his thoughts. He swiped out of it and went to the main page, and felt as though he was going to be sick.

_**Goro Akechi’s Change of Heart?** _

A similar title was on every trashy tabloid site, and they all shared the same video clip of him on TXN News. He pressed play with shaky hands.

There was no denying that it was him on the couch, sitting across from the hosts. But the things he said--

_“Now, Akechi-kun, do you still stand firm in your beliefs that the Phantom Thieves are wrong in what they’re doing?”_

_“Actually, my opinion has changed,” he said with a small smile._

_The two hosts shared a look. “Really? And what do you think of them now?”_

_“I believe that justice is on their side after all.”_

_“What brought on such a… drastic change in perspective?”_

_“Consider it a change of heart,” he said with a laugh._

It cut after that, the host on the left gesturing at someone to stop filming.

“That’s… not me,” he said weakly. It was impossible. His interview for TXN was set for that day! He checked his calendar and froze.

_Friday, September 2nd._

It was some kind of glitch in the software. He turned the TV on to a random channel and nearly tripped over books scattered on the floor as he stepped back.

“Considering his behavior in this clip as well, can we really rule out a change of heart?”

_“If you ask me, it seems less like a change of heart and more like a mental shutdown!”_

_“I don’t know if it’s a full shutdown, but it’s clear that something happened to Goro Akechi. Let’s watch that again, shall we?”_

“No,” he breathed. “No, no--”

_“You’re Goro Akechi, right? The detective from TV?”_

_“Yes?”_

_He turned around, smiling. A fist collided with his nose and he fell to the floor._

He stumbled to the sink and emptied the contents of his stomach into it. What had he even _eaten?_

He felt lightheaded and wasn’t sure if his legs would support him if he tried to walk. Instead he sunk to the floor there in the kitchen and took a few ragged breaths.

“That’s not me,” he mumbled. “That’s… not me.”

His phone went off and he flinched, and waited for the ringing to stop before he realized it was just a calendar notification. He had school, one of the few days where he didn’t have any interviews lined up.

The idea of school had his stomach threatening to bring up more and he stayed on the floor.

He wouldn’t be going to school that day. He was sure Shido was already in the process of setting up several interviews to do damage control and fix whatever had come over him.

What had happened the day before? Why was the only thing he could remember that stupid dream where he was living as Kurusu?

* * *

“Are you feeling better today, Akira?” Ann asked as they took their seats.

“What?”

“Morgana had said you were sick or something. It looks like you’re better today. Did you eat something bad?”

“We didn’t hang out yesterday. Sojiro, Futaba and I got sushi, and I spent the night watching a DVD in my room with Morgana.”

The cat poked his head out at the mention of his name and gave Akira a look. “That was two days ago, you had school yesterday. Didn’t you say something about that in the café this morning?”

“Akira, what’s today’s date?” Ann asked sweetly.

“It’s September 1st,” he said, but there was an uncertainty in his answer.

The two shared a look. “It’s the 2nd. You… don’t remember yesterday at all?”

“I’m not feeling well,” he said, getting up suddenly. He waved down Kawakami, who nodded, and he left for the nurse’s.

“Wait, what about Mona--!” Ann started.

The cat just sighed. “Looks like I’m hiding in your desk today.”

She didn’t get to protest as Kawakami called for everyone’s attention and homeroom started.

Meanwhile Akira gave the nurse some excuse about fatigue and a headache that wouldn’t go away. He hung his head and tried to look sickly as she gave him a once over before waving him off to one of the beds.

He knew what date it was, he reasoned as he lay down. They were just playing some kind of prank on him… Morgana had told Futaba, who told Sojiro. It was all just a joke.

He risked a glance at his phone when the nurse wasn’t looking and paled at the calendar app in the corner.

_Friday, September 2nd._

He threw an arm over his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. He’d figure out what was going on later.

That was his plan, anyway, but Ann and Ryuji stopped by during lunch, with the former carrying what had officially been dubbed The Mona Bag.

Akira prepared himself for the inevitable onslaught of questions.

Instead Ryuji sat backwards on one of the plastic chairs and practically bounced with excitement. “Dude, have you seen the news?”

“I’ve been busy pretending to be sick to get out of class,” he deadpanned.

“So you haven’t seen what happened with Akechi?”

He groaned. “What’s the Detective Prince saying about us now?”

Ryuji all but shoved a phone in his face. “He’s supporting us.”

_“What?”_

He grabbed the phone and watched the clip, his breath catching.

_“I believe that justice is on their side after all.”_

_“What brought on such a… drastic change in perspective?”_

_“Consider it a change of heart,” he said with a laugh._

Akira felt as though he was going to be sick. He’d said those exact words in his strange dream.

 _No, it wasn’t a dream_. The thought had occurred to him as the experience dragged on, of course, but he’d brushed it aside. Even in a world of palaces and personas the concept of swapping bodies was _ridiculous_. But there was no denying that although it was Akechi who was in that video, they were Akira’s words. Somehow he’d lived out the day as Goro Akechi, and that’s why he had no memory of September 1st.

_Does that mean Akechi was… me?_

His friends were looking at him with concern and he realized his heart was racing and he was still gripping the phone with white knuckles.

“You said I was sick yesterday,” he said lowly. “How exactly did I behave?”

“What kind of question--”

“Humor me for a second.”

Ann was the one to finally answer. “You just seemed sorta out of it, like you weren’t sure what was going on. We asked you a few questions during the meeting but I’m not sure you even heard us.”

_The meeting-- everyone met up to discuss our next target. If Akechi really was in my place he would’ve heard everything. And if I’m back to myself again, that means he probably is as well. He could be using that information against us at this very moment._

“--kira!”

His head snapped up.

“You’re worrying me. Are you sure you should be at school?”

“I think I’m going to ask to go home,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Morgana, can you stay with Ann or Ryuji?”

“But if you’re sick you shouldn’t go back alone--”

“ _Please_ ,” he said. “I’ll be fine. I’ll stop by the clinic and sleep off whatever this is.”

The cat frowned. “Fine, but I want to stay with Lady Ann.”

“I’ll bring him back after class,” she promised. “I can get your homework too.”

He gave a small nod as thanks and talked to the nurse again, who took his temperature and excused him.

His head was spinning as he made his way to the station.

_Should I find Akechi before he finds me? Or avoid him? What am I supposed to tell the others about all of this?_

He was lost in thought and not watching where he was going, and stumbled into someone.

“Oh, my apologies!” they said, and Akira froze. He knew that voice. He slowly looked up and took in the mess of brown hair and broken nose.

Akechi.

* * *

He fought back a yawn by taking a swig of his coffee and nearly gagging. In order to keep up his charming and approachable Detective Prince façade, he was forced to order his with some kind of frill to it. It didn’t matter how many times he told the baristas to go easy on the sugar, it still made his teeth ache.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he hesitated a moment before pulling it out.

Shido had set up yet another interview to fix his mess.

_No, not my mess. That was most certainly not me._

He had theories, of course. He wouldn’t be much of a detective if he didn’t. But they were so absurd he was hesitant to even think of them as such, let alone put them into words.

According to the message, he was to go to Akasaka Mitsuke, to the TXN News building where the initial interview had happened the day before.

He started towards the Ginza line and did his best to ignore the people staring at him. They weren’t exactly secretive about it, and his emblazoned briefcase and broken nose were an easy giveaway. Goro knew he should’ve worn a hat or something. Perhaps he’d invest in a pair of fake glasses like Kurusu.

 _Kurusu_. His thoughts always came back to the boy and he didn’t understand why. There wasn’t anything particularly special about him. If anything, he was almost unremarkably plain, aside from the fact that he masqueraded as the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

He was so lost in thought he didn’t notice what was going on until he bumped into someone. “Oh, my apologies!”

Then he realized he knew the shock of black hair in front of him.

Kurusu.

The other boy startled and hurried off.

Well, that was all the confirmation Goro needed that something had happened with the two of them. As much as he hated the idea of facing some kind of punishment from Shido, getting answers was more important. He gave chase but quickly realized he had no idea where he’d gone.

_It’s the middle of the day and Shujin should still be in session. What’s more, I didn’t see his bag. Was he going home for some reason? Then I should get on the train for Shibuya and follow it to Yongen-Jaya._

He slipped in right as the doors were closing and scanned the car, coming up empty. He’d chosen wrong, and now he was on a train taking him the exact opposite direction in which he needed to go. Shido was going to have his head once he found out.

* * *

He didn’t stop running until he hit Central Street. There was no longer any denying that _something_ had happened,

 _He might go to Leblanc_ , he realized. _If he was willing to chase me he’s definitely not above staking out where I live. Especially if he can use the excuse of being a detective. What if he tells the police I’m part of the Phantom Thieves? What would happen to Futaba and Sojiro?_

He needed a plan. He wasn’t going to lose everything he’d been protecting for the past six months.

But first he needed backup.

Tech Master >:3  
  
i need ur help  
  
arent u in class?  
  
its about akechi  
  
did u see the news??? he got what he deserved with that punch (✯◡✯)  
  
is he at leblanc?  
  
nah, hes been doing apology interviews all morning apparently  
  
why  
  
meet me at central street big bang burger  
  
alone?! ｡ﾟ･ (>﹏<) ･ﾟ｡  
  


Akira didn’t have time to deal with this.

Tech Master >:3  
  
ill buy you food  
  


There was no response and he kept looking over his shoulder. Still no sign of the boy, or any police, but that didn’t mean they weren’t looking for him.

Tech Master >:3  
  
...  
  
fine  
  


He paced in front of the burger joint, checking the Phan-site and any news sites he could think of as he waited for the girl.

She finally showed up, bristling like a cat at every person that got close to her, and he waved her down. She immediately relaxed and they ordered and took their seats at the table farthest from everyone else.

“So what’s up?” she said between bites of her burger. “You’ve been acting _super_ weird.”

He hesitated. “I know this is going to sound super crazy, but just work with me here.”

“Nothing you could say would sound crazy after everything we’ve been through,” she scoffed.

“I think…” He took a deep breath. “I switched bodies with Akechi yesterday and lived out the day as him, and he did the same as me.”

She choked on her drink and spat it out, earning quite a few glares in their direction. Akira silently mopped it up and waited for her to finish coughing.

“That is _not_ what I was expecting,” she said at last. “God, I was expecting like-- like, I dunno, that you had feelings for detective boy or something-- Not whatever this is!”

“Futaba, I’m being serious.”

“So am I! Body swapping isn’t real, it’s just some overused trope in bad manga.”

“I know it sounds crazy,” he said. “But I can prove it! I can recite that interview because _I was the one who said it--”_

“You could’ve just watched it a bunch of times and memorized it.”

“Then I can describe Akechi’s apartment to you, or--”

“Akira!” she snapped. “...You’re scaring me.”

He stopped and finally looked at her, and slowly realized she had drawn away from him and into the corner of the booth.

She swirled a fry around her tray and kept her head down. “You were acting weird yesterday. This morning, too. Are you… okay?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m telling you the truth here--”

“Just _stop._ Stop talking before I check the Nav and make sure you haven’t had your heart distorted.”

“Futaba--”

_“Please.”_

“Is it really that much of a stretch after all we’ve seen? What about _your_ heart? Why can’t you suspend your disbelief and--”

“Because the metaverse is based on _science_ ,” she said sharply. “I don’t… I don’t know where the line between science and magic is. And I don’t want to find out.” She grabbed her tray. “I’m going home, Akira. You should do the same once you’ve got your head screwed on right again.”

“...Do you want me to take the train back with you?”

She flinched as he offered her a hand, and the message was clear. She was more afraid of _him_ than the strangers around her.

“I’ll be back later, if Sojiro asks.”

She nodded. “Don’t… Don’t do anything stupid,” she said in a small voice.

 _I wouldn’t have to if you just believed me,_ he thought bitterly.

* * *

“I’ve already told that Niijima woman I’m not talking to her. That extends to her lapdogs as well.”

“I’m not here for information, Sakura-san. Just to enjoy some coffee.”

The man scowled at him. “And there aren’t any fancy restaurants you can go to that serve coffee?”

“Is that any way to treat your customers?”

“You’re only my customer if I choose to serve you. I have no interest in serving those working with the police at the moment.”

Goro sighed. “Is Kurusu here? I have something I need to talk to him about.”

The girl who had been hiding in the corner booth started furiously typing something on her phone and he tried to ignore it.

“He’s not here. And neither should you be,” Sakura-san said.

“Very well, I see that I’m not welcome here. Would you at least tell Kurusu that I’d like to meet with him?”

The man didn’t respond and he just grabbed his briefcase. “Until next time.”

“Hopefully not,” the girl muttered, and his smile nearly turned sour.

_You’re one of the Thieves too, aren’t you? I can’t wait to see what happens when you get framed for the death of Kunikazu Okumura._

“Quit staring, creep,” she hissed, and he realized he’d zoned out for a minute.

“My apologies.” _Bitch._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had nine tabs open and like two friends helping me with the code here and my computer overheated so it suffered for you. please appreciate its temporary sacrifice. 
> 
> so akira has tried to tell at least one of the thieves and it didn't work. guess he'll just keep this a secret. there's no way that could possibly backfire.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> September 14th  
> Morgana is missing after an argument with Ryuji

Akira didn’t get a chance to confront Akechi that day, or any that followed. He was kept busy as Futaba analyzed the data from Sae-san’s laptop, and then they went on the school trip to Hawaii. When they returned there was the news that Principal Kobayakawa had died, and all signs pointed to a mental shutdown.

 _And then Ryuji and Morgana had to have that big argument… We need to be working together right now if we’re going to target Okumura next, not splitting up,_ he thought as he got ready for bed.

The news about the principal’s death was concerning as well. While people on the Phan-site seemed to be praising them, claiming it was the right thing to do because he’d covered up Kamoshida’s abuse, he knew firsthand how quickly people’s opinions could change and how they’d turn on them.

The last thing he remembered thinking before nodding off was, _We’ll have to be careful going forward._

Then he woke up in an apartment that was familiar for all the wrong reasons.

“No,” he mumbled.

He tried to sit up and instead was met with a sharp pain that ran up his side. He pressed a hand against it and his breath caught as his fingers came back stained red.

More than just his fingers, the bedsheets were streaked with it.

Akira forced himself out of the bed and to the mirror again, where he carefully shed his nightshirt and found a mess of blood and stitches, in addition to the brown hair and eyes he was expecting. It was then that he got his first good look at the boy’s body. Scars littered all that he could see, scratches and bruises marring the rest. One in particular on his shoulder looked like a puncture wound and he gently touched it, drawing back at the dull pain.

The phone rang and a number he was all too familiar with flashed across the screen.

 _“Where are you?”_ the voice demanded.

“Is that what I sound like?”

_“Where. Are. You.”_

“Your apartment, I think.”

Akechi gave a sigh of disgust. _“You seem remarkably calm about all of this.”_

“I think it’s shock from the blood loss,” he admitted.

_“What are you doing?”_

“Not much,” he said, unable to fight back a smirk. “Why, did you want to do something together?”

_“Kurusu, I swear to-- This is serious! I thought your little doe-eyed imbecile act was just that, but are you actually that stupid?”_

“You sound very different than you do on TV.”

_“If you don’t shut up and listen to me I’ll kill myself right here and now, and we’ll find out what happens to someone when their body dies and their consciousness is somewhere else. Do you understand?”_

He sounded serious and Akira swallowed thickly. “Yes.”

_“Good. How’s the wound?”_

“Bleeding.”

_“How handy are you with medical equipment?”_

“I mean I can patch up your average scrape, but nothing like this.”

_“...Fine, I’ll deal with it tomorrow. Don’t touch the stitches if you can, but clean and redress it. If it gets infected I will personally come to Leblanc and strangle you once we switch back. Now read to me what my calendar has for today.”_

“School… A meeting at the precinct… Who’s this Mr. Ooe you’re having dinner with?”

 _“None of your concern. You can disregard school, as you wouldn’t be able to go in that state anyway. I’ll pull a few strings and get you out of it. The meeting, however, you can’t miss. It would be suspicious if you, or rather, I, did. As for the dinner… I don’t know,”_ he admitted. _“I’ll get in touch with you once I do.”_

“Wait, what’s this meeting about?”

_“An update on the Phantom Thieves case. The material isn’t important. What is is that you’re there. You don’t have to speak--in fact, that’s a brilliant idea, don’t speak--and I’ll handle everything else tomorrow. But you have to be there so my presence gets reported to the higher-ups.”_

“I think you’re the one who’s kind of eerily calm about everything.”

 _“It’s not calm,”_ he said tersely, and didn’t elaborate. _“And what about your day? You have absolutely nothing written down. How am I supposed to know what to do?”_

“I mean… go to school. Talk to my friends. Try to blend in. Oh, is Morgana there?”

_“The damn cat? No, actually, I don’t see it.”_

“So he’s not back yet,” he murmured. “He… ran off yesterday. Everyone will probably want to look for him.”

 _“It’s a_ cat _. They tend to be rather free animals, from what I’ve heard. Won’t it just come back when it’s hungry?”_

Akira knew that Akechi knew about Mona and the metaverse. _He’s playing dumb_. “Maybe, but the others will be worried. I’m worried too, but I can’t do anything about it. Just help them if they suggest going out to look for him, okay? And if someone texts you tonight, either ignore them or tell them you have other plans.”

_“Someone?”_

“Chihaya, Munehisa, Ichiko, Toranosuke--”

_“I get it, you have a lot of friends.”_

Akira laughed. “Probably not the kind you’re picturing. So my plans for today are don’t go to school, definitely go to the police meeting, and you’ll get back to me about the dinner?”

_“Yes, and I’m supposed to go to school and look for your stupid cat. Ah… won’t Sakura-san be suspicious of me?”_

“If he says anything you can say you miss Mona.”

_“Very well. I’ll get in touch once I figure out the dinner.”_

“Wait, Akechi--”

 _“What?”_ he asked darkly.

“Why do you think this is happening?”

_“I don’t have time to play detective. That’s your job today. Now unless you want me to be late for school, I suggest you let me go.”_

The call ended and Akira stared at his reflection again before inspecting the wound. “I’ve seen Tae do stuff like this. How hard could it be to clean and bandage it?”

* * *

After a fight with the boy’s uniform--Would it kill him to at least keep everything in one _area?_ He found the shirt kicked underneath the desk and the pants somehow draped over the potted plant in the corner--he hurried downstairs and found the younger Sakura with her knees curled to her chest and nursing a cup of coffee.

“Hey, have you seen Morgana?”

“No,” he said, trying to keep the disgust out of his voice.

“I kinda just expected he’d come back when he got hungry,” she admitted. “Maybe we should text everyone and see if he went to stay with one of them?”

She dug her phone out of her pocket and sent a series of messages that made his own phone ring. There were responses immediately and he silenced the device.

“I’m heading to school.”

“You’re being too cold about this,” she muttered. “You and everyone else. It’s like you don’t care that he’s gone.”

“It’s only been a day, hasn’t it? I’m sure he’ll be back.”

She didn’t answer and he took it as sign enough that their conversation was over. Pretending to be a bleeding heart was _exhausting_. How did Kurusu manage to do it for real when everyone was just out to get something for themselves?

* * *

He’d spent most of the morning sleeping and changed his bandages whenever they got bad enough. The fact that the wound was still bleeding so much worried him, but he didn’t know enough about anatomy or medicine to do much else. He debated going to Tae but figured it was better to just stay in the apartment after what had happened at the grocery store the week before.

The time for the meeting finally came and he realized there was no driver listed in the calendar, the way it had been before. He frantically sent the boy a text and frowned as he realized he was listed in the boy’s contacts as _Kurusu_.

Kurusu  
  
how am i supposed to get to the meeting  
  


There was no response. _Of course not, he’s in class._

He waited a few minutes before trying again.

Kurusu  
  
you said this was important and im trying but i dont know how to get there  
  
or i know where it is but i cant drive and i dont think you have a car anyway  
  
if you dont answer im paying for a cab and its your money  
  


Silence.

Kurusu  
  
im taking a cab  
  


He was halfway to Nagatacho when the phone buzzed.

Kurusu  
  
My bike is in the garage, though you probably wouldn’t be able to bike there in that condition. I wasn’t expecting to get as hurt as I did. A simple cab ride shouldn’t be enough to break the bank for someone such as yourself, so I’ll be collecting that money the next time I see you.  
  
Why is my name in your phone Detective Boy?  
  
lol you text so formally  
  
wait what did you mean you werent expecting to get *as* hurt  
  
what were you doing that you knew youd get hurt?  
  
and why do i have to pay you back???  
  


He got no response again and huffed, staring out the window instead. He’d never been to Nagatacho before. He knew it had the Diet Building and the Prime Minister’s office, but he hadn’t known about the courthouse and the police station.

The car jolted to a stop and he was torn from his thoughts. He paid the driver, wincing at how much he now owed the detective, and started towards the address in the phone.

_We’d better find out more about this Okumura guy and figure out his keywords. I’m running low on funds after getting everyone new weapons, even with Munehisa’s discount…_

“Hey, you!” someone called, and he whipped around, already making a fist and ready to fight off whoever it was--

“My apologies, Akechi-kun, I didn’t recognize you for a second,” the officer said. “Are you here for the meeting? I heard from the higher ups it’s starting soon. You’re one of the last to arrive.”

Akira’s mouth went dry. He knew he needed to give him some kind of answer, but his mind was blank.

The man just gave him an odd look and went back to guarding the doors, and he forced himself to walk again.

It only got worse as he stepped inside and men in uniform were milling about. He froze, and in that moment all he could see was the night of his arrest. That man who’d threatened to sue, and the officers who nearly dislocated his arm with how rough they were. Every fiber of his being told him to walk away before it was too late.

_No, I told Akechi I’d do this. He said I don’t even have to talk, I can just stand there and it’ll be enough. I already messed up that interview for him. I at least have to do this._

That didn’t make it any easier to walk into a room of armed men who would be all too happy to lock him away if they knew who he really was.

“Akechi-kun, you’re here,” one of them said brightly, clapping him on the shoulder. Akira tried not to flinch at the touch.

“That’s everyone, no? Let’s begin by going over what we know and anything new we’ve learned about the Phantom Thieves since last time.”

He knew he wouldn’t understand a word they said. Not when all he could focus on was not fighting his way out of the room kicking and screaming.

* * *

While he found school boring, sitting through history lessons he’d already learned the year before, it was nothing compared to sitting in Leblanc with the Sakuras and waiting for a cat that obviously wasn’t going to show up.

“I’m sure he’ll come back once he gets hungry,” the man said.

The TV was airing a story about how the corporate headquarters for Okumura Foods had been broken into and the girl next to him began furiously texting someone. A moment later his own phone buzzed and he shot her a glare.

Tech Master >:3  
  
you think mona charged in there by himself?  
  
he may not seem like it sometimes, but hes totally a capable cat when he wants to be  
  
we should go to okumuras palace tomorrow. ill let everyone know  
  


Goro suddenly got to his feet, startling the two of them. “I’m going to go look for the cat.”

He forced himself to walk normally out of the café and down the alley, until he was sure he was alone. Then he couldn’t fight the laughter bubbling up.

“This… This is perfect!” he said aloud. “I can keep tabs on them and report back. He’ll be so pleased with the information I’ll gather!” A thought occurred to him and his grin only grew wider.

There was no need to wait for the Thieves to change his heart before taking out Okumura’s shadow. He’d just need to wait until they switched again and he could kill him as Joker, and frame the rest of his friends in one fell swoop. The Phantom Thieves would be done for in an instant.

His excitement was cut short as his phone buzzed again. He answered without looking at the number.

“What?” he snapped.

_“Did you… uh… ever figure out that dinner?”_

Kurusu. He’d nearly forgotten. “Where are you now?”

_“The meeting just ended so I’m outside the precinct. I can’t afford another cab so I’m waiting for the train, but I need you to tell me if I’m going to this dinner or not.”_

“Yes, I saw the state of your wallet. I would’ve thought you’d be richer, somehow. All those sodas you buy every time I see you at the train station.”

He was expecting some kind of snarky remark, but instead the boy was silent.

“The dinner’s been taken care of. I don’t trust you not to ruin my career even further by saying the wrong thing to a powerful man like Ooe.”

His usual fire was gone, and instead he gave a mumbled, _“I’m coming to Leblanc.”_

“You’re _what?_ Are you trying to ruin us both?”

_“I just need something familiar. I’ll order some coffee and curry and leave as soon as I’m done.”_

He sounded… off, and Goro just ended the call. There was nothing he could say to change Kurusu’s mind, anyway. All he could do was figure out how not to look suspicious when he showed up.

* * *

The streets still felt familiar, but the looks he got from people he’d come to know hurt worse than the sloppily stitched wound on his side. It had taken so long for Tokyo to feel like home, and in that moment it was as though nothing had changed and he was just the criminal delinquent again.

Then he saw the faded canopy of Leblanc and everything felt as though it was going to be alright.

Or that was what he thought, until he stepped inside and Sojiro sneered at him. “The answer is going to be the same every time. You’re not welcome here.”

His voice failed him and he found himself frozen in the doorway. While Sojiro had always been vocal about his dislike of the detective and the police, Akira never imagined he’d turn a potential customer away.

“Oh, let him come in,” someone called from the back, and a moment later Akechi came out of the kitchen with soap up to his elbows and his glasses askew.

“You sure?” Sojiro asked. “Aren’t you always going on about how much you can’t stand him?”

“You could use the customers,” he said flatly.

The man sighed. “Fine, but you’re serving him. You can at least do that much by now. I’m going out to get cigarettes.”

Akira took a seat at the counter and waited until he was gone before hanging his head. “Now I can’t even get coffee…”

“Are you saying I can’t figure out how to make a simple cup of coffee?” Akechi asked, sounding insulted.

“No, I’m saying you can’t make _good_ coffee. Not to the Leblanc standard, anyway. Can you at least get me some curry so if Sojiro comes back he doesn’t get the wrong idea?”

“Why are you jeopardizing our position?” he asked suddenly. “You couldn’t go a day without smelling cat hair and curry?”

He sat up. “Does that mean Morgana’s back?”

His lips curled back. “No, but that _girl_ won’t get off my case about looking for him. It’s just a cat after all.”

Akira was silent. “There’s no point in playing dumb anymore,” he said after a minute. “You know my secret.”

He went back to scrubbing at the pots in the sink. “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

He glanced around before lowering his voice further. “I’m the leader of the Phantom Thieves.”

“I don’t suppose I could get that in writing?”

He laughed without humor. “You’ve known for awhile, there’s no point in hiding it. You heard Morgana back in June when we went to the TV station for a field trip. That means not only have you been to the metaverse, but you saw us.”

“...You don’t make a half-bad detective.”

“No, you were just careless. You asked if we were getting pancakes, I believe?”

Akechi grimaced. “I don’t want to hear that word for a long time…”

“We might as well compare information while I’m here,” he said through a mouthful of curry. “There aren’t many places the two of us could meet without drawing attention so we should take advantage of this, even if Sojiro doesn’t want me--or really, you--here. Has he said anything about you seeming off?”

“Oh no,” he said. “This was your idea, you’re going first. How badly have you ruined my career this time?”

Akira ducked down. “I’m sorry about that, you know. I didn’t realize it was, y’know, real.”

“Regardless of whether you _meant to_ , you still did it.”

“I did just as you said. Stayed in the apartment all morning--you should better stock your fridge, by the way--and went to that meeting in the afternoon.”

“And? What did they talk about?”

He half shrugged.

“What do you mean you _don’t know_ , you were supposed to be listening!” he hissed.

“You just told me to show up and keep quiet, and I did just that!”

“I just meant don’t say anything stupid! You were supposed to at least listen and nod along when appropriate!”

“You didn’t say anything about that! Not to mention, I was a little preoccupied!”

“With _what?_ ” he demanded. “What could possibly be so important that you couldn't just stand there and listen to what was going on around you?”

Akira scowled. “I was a Phantom Thief surrounded by police. How else was I supposed to react, but be on edge?”

“You weren’t a Phantom Thief, you were the Detective Prince! It’s your _job_ to stand there and just go along with whatever they say! Not like you have to actually solve any cases,” he muttered.

Their argument was cut short as the bell above the door rang. “I could hear you two yelling from down the street,” Sojiro said. “Am I going to have to kick you out after all?”

Akira rapidly shook his head. “The curry is delicious. Did you add more apples to this batch?”

Akechi shot him a look.

“How’d you know that if you haven’t been here in awhile?”

He froze. “It was, um, really memorable the last time I had it and, uh--”

Akechi grabbed a mug from the sink and dropped it. “Oh, my bad.”

“Kid, what are you--!”

“Where’s the broom and dustpan?”

He sighed. “I’ll get it. As for you--” He turned to Akira. “Finish up and get out of here.”

‘ _Thank you_ ’, he mouthed to Akechi, who just rolled his eyes.

‘ _Get out of here_ ,’ he mouthed back, nodding towards the door.

As much as Akira wanted to stay in Leblanc, it was clear he’d worn out his welcome as the detective. “Thank you for the curry.”

The only response he got was Akechi gesturing even more before Sojiro turned around.

* * *

Goro’s phone buzzed as he was getting ready for bed and he ignored it, expecting it to be the rest of the Thieves planning their excursion into Okumura’s palace the next day. Then it continued and he remembered he’d muted the chat with them as soon as he woke up that morning.

Detective Boy  
  
you never told me what happened today  
  
You have the dumbest names for people in your phone.  
  
futaba picks most of them and we just dont change them  
  
ur not answering my question  
  
It wasn’t a question.  
  
what did you do as me today???  
  
You and your friends are infiltrating Okumura’s palace tomorrow. That Sakura girl thinks your cat charged in there today and that’s what the news report was about.  
  
so ur not gonna like  
  
turn us in to the cops or anything  
  
right?  
  
The public adores you and despises me right now, I doubt anything would come out of me trying to oust you.  
  
shit ur right  
  
so can we talk about how you got this huge wound??  
  
No.  
  
can we… talk about all the stuff in your apartment?  
What stuff?  
like the featherman ray gun and your awful taste in sparkling water  
Don’t touch the blaster.  
I’m being serious, Kurusu.  
breaking out the names lol  
whats the story behind it??  
wait hold on  
What are you doing?  
Kurusu, answer me.  
holy shit is this a first edition??? this is worth so much why do you have this  
Don’t fucking touch it.  
ok ok i didnt  
i was just looking it up online  
theres nothing wrong with being a featherman fan yknow  
This isn’t about being a fan of the show.  
whatever you say  
you should talk to futaba about it some time  
as yourself of course, shed know something was up if you did it as me  
She doesn’t seem to like me very much. The feeling is mutual of course.  
whats wrong with futaba? :(  


Goro knew he couldn’t very well admit that he was the reason the girl’s mother was dead.

Detective Boy  
  
Nevermind.  
  
If we’re talking about room decorations, why don’t we address the fact that you have a ramen bowl on your shelf?  
  
oh lol that’s from ryuji  
  
And the glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling?  
  
yusuke  
  
theyre all gifts from friends  
  
oh except the stuff on the desk, thats from the claw machines in akihabara  
  
It’s possible to win something from them?  
  
if you go on the 7th of the month you get luckier :)  
  
...I cannot tell if you’re joking or not.  
  
ok well i gotta go to bed since ive gotta get up tomorrow and review what i missed in class today  
  
just kidding ill steal anns notes or something  
  
night akechi  
  


He tried to put down the phone but it buzzed again.

Detective Boy  
  
i said NIGHT AKECHI  
  
Good night, Kurusu.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and thus an unlikely alliance is formed... or something along those lines


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> October 7th  
> Four days until Okumura's palace deadline

Akira found himself falling into a rhythm as the month went on. He woke up as Akechi about once a week, although they still had no explanation as to why it was happening. They met up at Leblanc to discuss theories and practice acting as each other. He could successfully answer interview questions without jeopardizing the boy’s career, and in return he taught Akechi how to brew a basic cup of coffee. It wouldn’t impress Sojiro by any means, but he wouldn’t fall under suspicion and be forced to do dishes for a whole day again.

On what was their third or fourth swap, they snuck away from the café and went to Mementos. Akira had raised the question of what would happen if they tried to call upon their personas, as there was a high probability the boy would end up playing the part of Joker at least once while they infiltrated Okumura’s palace.

As soon as they entered the subway their clothes changed.

“Well, it’s a promising start,” Akechi said, studying the outfit. “Is this what you really see as a rebel though?”

“You’re one to talk! What’s up with this sword? And this _mask!_ ” he said, toying with the nose on it.

He rolled his eyes. “At least my coat won’t get caught in a door if I’m not careful. Let’s just get this over with.”

They went down a floor and hesitated on the platform.

“What if this doesn’t work?” Akira said. “And we can’t summon them at all?”

“The worst thing you’ll find down here is a Kelpie. If you’re afraid you can’t fight one of those off with your knife we have a bigger problem than we thought.”

He took a deep breath and charged the first poor shadow that wandered their way. True to the boy’s word, it was a Kelpie that looked at him with vacant eyes.

With trembling hands he gripped the mask. _“Persona!”_

Akechi fell back as a red and black creature towered over them.

“Arsène, Eiha!” he called, and a wave of red welled up like a spring. When it subsided both the creature and shadow were gone.

Akechi cleared his throat and brushed some dust off his coat. “Well, I think it’s clear that we call upon our own personas, regardless of the body we’re in.”

“You should try to summon yours, just to make sure.”

“No, that’s enough. We need to return to Leblanc before someone gets suspicious. Wouldn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea now, would we?”

Akira could see that his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “...Alright. Oh, I guess this means you won’t be able to lead an infiltration if we happen to switch on a day I’d planned to go to the palace. I may be able to control multiple personas, but my friends would notice if I got a new one out of nowhere.”

Akechi’s breath caught. “You have more than one?”

“Yeah, something about the power of the wild card. I can remind a shadow of what they once were and convince them to lend me their power.”

“...I see.”

As they entered the real world again, Akira stopped and bought each of them a drink from one of the nearby vending machines.

“Oh, so you have money now?” Akechi asked.

He just shrugged. “We’ve made some progress in Okumura’s palace, and space themed junk sells pretty well.”

“Space themed junk?”

“Right, I keep forgetting you haven’t actually been to the palace. Have you seen some of the junk laying around Mementos? The palaces have that too, and Okumura sees his headquarters as, like, a spaceport or something. So there’s a lot of broken solar panels and weird antennas from radars or something.”

“And… you know someone who will buy this?”

“Yeah! He runs a model gun shop on Central Street. I think he melts down whatever I give him to make more guns or something. I don’t know what else he’d do with candelabras and computer chips.”

The boy just gave a hollow laugh. “We should keep moving.”

“Yeah, Sojiro’s probably wondering where you disappeared to.”

“So,” Akechi said after a minute, “when are you sending the calling card?”

“Hmm? Oh, next week, probably. We found the treasure a few days ago but I wanted to do one more trip to Mementos to finish up any requests and make sure we’re ready for the final infiltration. You want to tag along?” he teased.

“No, just curious. I hardly know anything about the Thieves, despite masquerading as their leader.”

* * *

As much as he was loath to admit it, Goro was getting used to waking up as Kurusu. There was no need to get up early and hide bruises with makeup, and during the day his only concern was making sure nobody said anything about the cat hiding in his desk. The cat itself wasn’t an issue anymore. If it thought he was acting strange, it didn’t say anything.

Even if he knew he’d have to get up the next morning and go back to being the Detective Prince, for that day he was allowed to just be a normal high schooler. He knew he could never tell Kurusu. He’d never let him live it down.

So instead he just found himself silently looking forward to the afternoons when he’d stop by Leblanc and compare notes.

That day had been going like the others, and he’d just served Kurusu his coffee and leaned against the counter as he took a sip.

“This is…”

“If it’s bad then there must be an issue with your teaching, because I’ve done everything you’ve said,” he snapped.

Kurusu tried to stifle his laughter. “I was going to say it’s really good. You’ve improved a lot in just a short time, Goro.”

He froze. “What did you say?”

“Sorry, I figured we’d gotten close enough that I could use your first name. Do you not want me to?”

“We’re not--We’re not _friends_ , Kurusu. Don’t use my name like we are.”

“...Sorry,” he repeated. “Oh, I actually had something to ask you about!” He dug his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his messages. “I got a text from someone I didn’t understand, but I figured you would. There it is!”

He turned the screen towards him and Goro’s blood turned to ice.

A list of names from an unlabeled contact.

Any peace of mind he’d experienced disappeared in that instant and he realized just how ridiculous he was being. _What the hell am I doing fraternizing with the enemy like this? I’m not a normal high schooler. I was chosen by God himself to wield this power. This is something only I can do, and here I am playing coffee shop with the person I’m to frame for murder in three day’s time._

“Do you know what this means?” came an uncertain voice, and he realized Kurusu was staring at him.

He swallowed down his nausea. “Must be a wrong number. Let me see the phone?” He practically grabbed it from him and typed out a quick response.

_Position compromised. Can complete tomorrow. Don’t respond._

Then he deleted the messages and just prayed the man would do as he said. He turned back to Kurusu, forcing a smile that he hoped didn’t look as fake as it felt. “All fixed.”

“Hey, are you okay?”

His grin wavered. “Don’t use that pitying tone with me.”

“Are you?” he asked again.

“Why wouldn’t I be, Kurusu? Do I look like I’m not okay?”

“There’s no need to get defensive. It was just a simple question, Goro--”

He smacked a hand down on the counter, all traces of the act gone. _“Don’t use my name.”_

“What’s wrong with you? I was just asking about a weird text message you got and suddenly you freak out on me like this, like--”

“You don’t know me. You don’t know my life,” he snarled. “We’re not _friends_. We are nothing more than two people who happen to be going through this… this _thing_ together. Don’t pretend that you know anything about me when you’ve only seen what I’ve let you so far.”

“What about your featherman blaster, huh? Or your freezer full of instant meals because you’re so bad at cooking you burn things in the microwave? Don’t act tough when I’ve already seen more of your life than anyone who claims to be your fan online--”

He lunged across the counter and had his hands wrapped in the boy’s collar in an instant. “You know _nothing_ ,” he hissed. He realized a second later what he was doing and let go, shoving his hands in his pockets. He couldn’t even summon an apologetic smile and instead just scowled at the boy, and found that he was still giving him a terrified look.

To see such fear and confusion on his own face, it made him _sick_.

Before either of them could say anything the bell above the door rang and Sakura-san entered, giving them both a wary look.

Goro shed his apron and all but threw it at the man. “I feel sick, I’m going upstairs,” he said, and didn’t wait for a response.

* * *

Akira had been instructed through a text a few minutes later to disregard the rest of the boy’s schedule, his meetings too important to risk messing up, and so he found himself with nothing to do as he left Leblanc. He couldn’t stop thinking about the strange message as he biked back to the apartment. The unlabeled contact, the seemingly random list of names…

He locked the bike in the garage and flopped back in the uncomfortable chair in the living room, scrolling through the messages in the phone. The text was gone and he frowned. The boy had deleted it.

He went into the camera roll and pulled up the screenshot he’d taken. The message had been so strange he’d wanted to keep a copy of it, and now it was clear it was the right thing to do. Something about it made Goro want to keep it away from him, and if his reaction was anything to go by he obviously knew what it meant and was trying to cover it up.

_Keiji Nakagawa_  
_Yūko Kawasaki_  
_Ryutaro Hamada_  
_Mitsuko Kondo_

It went on for a bit more, and the more he read the more his head spun. He didn’t recognize any of the names, and a quick search showed that there wasn’t any real connection between them. The majority were politicians, but there were also company presidents and a few minor celebrities.

_Okay, what’s the common factor? What did Goro do when he took the phone back?_

He racked his brain to no avail. He didn’t even understand how Goro was connected to the names, let alone how they were connected to each other.

“Think, Akira, _think_ ,” he muttered. “You’re the Detective Prince today, _use that_.”

He went over the list of names again. _Maybe I could try to talk to them? Oh, but the news would probably find out if I started asking questions and then Goro would get in trouble again._

For being a celebrity with access to a lot of things normal people didn’t, he sure couldn’t use his influence for anything important. It just got him yelled at when he went out in public.

Well, if he couldn’t leave the apartment he was at least going to find the connecting piece between the names and the other boy. He certainly had the time.

* * *

He couldn’t stop pacing, even after Sakura-san came up to tell him he was driving him and the other customers crazy. He just gave an insincere apology and went right back to it.

He kept thinking about what had happened. In a matter of minutes, everything had changed.

_No, things went back to the way they were. I was never supposed to get this close to him. The plan was always to frame them._

That didn’t make it any easier to forget the way he’d looked at him, full of confusion and naivety. It was a foreign expression to see on his own face, and it made him sick.

_“You’ve improved a lot in just a short time, Goro.”_

Of all the things the boy could’ve said in that moment… He couldn’t remember the last time someone had called him by his name, and not just by one of his titles. As though they were _friends_.

And then he had to bring up that message. He knew he should’ve done something more, whether it was send the list of Kurusu’s phone to take care of, or even memorize one or two of the names. Partial results were better than none. Instead he was left pacing in the damn attic, driving himself and everyone around him insane.

He knew the man’s number. That’s what was eating at him, that he could call and get the list again. If Kurusu could summon his own persona then Goro would be able to do the same. Even if it was only the _one_ , he’d be able to enact a shutdown with Robin Hood. He just didn’t dare risk calling and revealing his position. Even if he used the payphone in the café questions would arise, and he still didn’t have answers.

He grabbed the first thing he could reach--a coffee mug with a sushi design printed around it--and threw it as hard as he could against the wall. It shattered and he tried to stop his hands from shaking.

Sakura-san rushed upstairs and took in the scene, the broken ceramic and the boy trembling in the middle of the floor.

“Get out of here and don’t come back until you’ve cooled off.”

“I’m fine,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

“ _Out_. If you need to hit something that badly go to the batting cages or the gym.”

It wasn’t until he was being all but shoved out the door that he realized he hadn’t seen the cat all day. Maybe it had run off again and one of Goro’s problems would be dealt with.

He found himself wandering the backstreets, not quite sure what to do. He had a day to deal with the people on the list, and three for Okumura. If what Kurusu had said earlier was true they were going to send the calling card in two day’s time.

“Akira!” a voice called, and he winced before turning around to find the younger Sakura running to catch up to him. “Sojiro said you freaked out and broke something at the shop. What’s up?”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine, so you can go back.”

“Can’t do that!” she said brightly. “He told me to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid, whatever that means. Wanna go to Akihabara? It’ll take your mind off things, and I need a few parts for my PC.”

_I would rather face Shido’s wrath tenfold than go anywhere with you._

“Let’s goooo,” she whined, pulling on his arm. “If we take the train now we’ll have a few hours to look at everything before we have to come back for dinner!”

He let himself be dragged along and zoned out as they boarded the train. He didn’t remember dozing off, but he was jolted awake as someone shook his shoulder. He was immediately on high alert and reached out for whoever it was, and froze as his hand met someone else’s.

“I didn’t know you had a thing for me,” the girl teased, and he wrenched his hand back and shoved it in his pocket. He _hated_ being unable to wear gloves.

He wished he could just disappear into the crowd and leave her as he got off the train. There was little stopping him, but he needed to put on his act for a few more days. Then the Phantom Thieves’ popularity would plummet to an all time low and everything would be in motion for his final plan. And if the _swapping_ still occurred after that, well… There were already plans in motion to ambush and kill their leader. Nobody would be too upset if he moved it ahead of schedule.

Something latched onto his arm and he stiffened up as he realized it was Sakura. Did Kurusu deal with this every time he hung out with her? As if it wasn’t hard enough to just be in the girl’s presence.

He realized she was talking to him and tried to put on the confused look he’d seen Kurusu wear all too often. “Sorry, what?”

“I _said_ did you finally start Phoenix Ranger Featherman R like I’ve been telling you to for the past month? They still show reruns at Leblanc sometimes, and I’ve got the whole collection you can borrow. And not having a system isn’t an excuse because I know for a fact you have a DVD player hidden up in your room, _and_ I can lend you one if the discs won’t run because your secondhand garbage is too old.”

There were so many things to focus on in her rambling, but he settled on, “Why do you just have a spare DVD player sitting around?”

“Why not? It was super cheap, and while it’s not the best model nowadays, it’s better than whatever you fished out of trash can. Seriously, let me make you a _good_ rig if you’re gonna watch movies with Mona. Speaking of, where is he? Obviously not in your bag since he didn’t make fun of you for falling asleep on the train, but I haven’t seen him all day. He didn’t run off again, did he?”

Did she ever _shut up?_ She was worse than the cat! He’d thought she was a shut-in but instead she seemed perfectly comfortable walking through the crowds and pointing out different machines Goro had no interest in.

“--and then Red Hawk betrays them in, like, episode thirty three but it’s not _really_ a betrayal--”

“Thirty four,” he muttered.

“What?”

“It’s episode thirty four, if you’re going to lecture me you should at least have your facts right.”

He immediately realized his mistake and they were both silent.

“Oh, I _knew_ you were watching it but you just didn’t tell me! Did you not want me to warn you about upcoming stuff? Because I can totally not do that, you’ve just gotta let me know--”

Goro was pretty sure the ordeal couldn’t possibly get any worse, but the universe seemed intent on proving him wrong. In that moment he saw Kitagawa, who spotted them in return and started over.

“Futaba, Akira, what brings you out here?”

“Uhh… buying computer stuff?” the girl said. “What are _you_ doing out here? How did you even afford the train fare?”

“While it was a blow to my wallet, I find this place a fascinating spot to people watch. So many people in their own worlds, focused only on their next deal, unaware of anything going on around them.”

 _If anyone’s in their own world it’s you_ , he thought venomously.

“When two people collide it makes for a spectacle unlike any other. The raw emotion… it’s inspiring.”

“God, Inari, you’re so weird,” the girl muttered, and Goro was very glad he wasn’t the only one who thought so. “If you’re already here, do you wanna walk with us? I’m sure Akira can treat us to food or something later.”

His hatred for the girl nearly doubled in that moment alone and he was once again left wishing he could just hurry up and frame them all already.

“Food sounds lovely. I missed out on breakfast this morning, but a classmate was kind enough to share a protein bar with me.”

The girl snapped her fingers. “I just realized I left something at the station! Akira, come with me, you’re my key item!”

_Go to hell._

“I could accompany you--” Kitagawa started, but she waved him off.

“We’ll be right back! It’ll just take a few minutes, you can keep stalking people or whatever you’re doing!”

_“People watching--”_

“Whatever!” She grabbed Goro’s arm again and he just let himself be dragged away. They didn’t go back to the station, but rather stopped in the shadow of one of the many shops.

“If you don’t hurry back someone might steal whatever you left behind,” he deadpanned, unable to summon the energy to put on Kurusu’s act.

“I knew it.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not Akira.”

“Of course I am,” he scoffed. “Who else would I be?”

“Just stop pretending, Akechi. You’re not very good at it.”

His voice failed him.

“Akira told me awhile back,” she continued. “I didn’t believe him, of course, but you’ve been acting so _weird_ today I just couldn’t get over it. Akira would _never_ throw a fit and break something--”

“It wasn’t a _fit_ ,” he managed.

“And then you corrected me on that Featherman trivia, and I know for a fact he hasn’t started the show yet because I have Leblanc and his phone bugged, and you didn’t even protest when I brought up you paying for lunch—“

Goro’s blood turned to ice. Any pretense of the act that was left over disappeared in an instant and he towered over the girl, cornering her. “How long?” he demanded. “How long have you had it bugged?”

“Don’t worry, whenever you two start flirting or whatever I mute it. You’re both gross, by the way.”

All strength seemed to leave his body and he pitched forward, the girl stumbling as she caught him.

“How are you somehow _heavier_ than Akira if it’s his body?” she grumbled.

He righted himself and put a hand out against the wall, afraid he’d slip again. If she could see into his phone-- What had he even said to Kurusu? Nothing incriminating, he was sure. He was careful about that. But what of his search history? Had he gone looking for any of the names on the list? That afternoon was a hazy mess, all he could remember was the message and the terror that had overtaken him.

“You’re not gonna, like… fall again, right?”

The voice tore him from his spiraling thoughts and he realized the girl was staring at him.

“I’m going back to the café.”

“What?! But you’re my key item, I need you here!”

“ _Akira_ is your key item, and you’ve done fine without him all day,” he snapped. “Get that art freak to help you if you must.”

She grabbed his arm, tears welling up in her eyes. “Even if you’re not actually him, it still helps. Can’t you just stay for like an hour?”

“Don’t _fucking_ touch me,” he spat, and she drew back.

He stormed to the station, his skin crawling. He couldn’t stand to even look at her. Not when all he saw was her mother.

* * *

Akira’s vision swam as he read over the list for what felt like the millionth time that night. He hadn’t found a single connection between the people whose names were recorded, let alone something to tie them to Goro.

“I need Futaba’s hacking abilities,” he groaned.

He was about to just resign himself to his fate and go to bed when his phone buzzed. It wasn’t Goro, but rather a number he didn’t recognize.

Unknown  
  
we need to talk about akechi  
  
who is this?  
  
wait hold on  
  


Akira watched as the display name changed and nearly dropped the phone.

Tech Master >:3  
  
were you expecting your detective prince?  
  
how did you even get this number  
  
akira cmon it was childs play  
  
i have ur phone bugged and hes been texting you constantly. it was super easy to pull the number  
  
you have my phone bugged?  
  
i have *everyones* phone bugged ur not special  
  
stop playing games and get to the point  
  
god fine (`皿´＃)  
  
you were right about the swapping and i was wrong  
  
and before you ask, sojiro thought you were acting weird and asked me to tail you and the brilliant detective prince did an awful job of pretending to be you  
  
like, not even trying  
  
threw a hissy fit  
  
corrected me at featherman trivia which im NEVER letting him live down  
  
goro akechi is a featherman fan  
  
its gonna be viral by tomorrow morning  
  
again, get to the point  
youre no fun  
the point is i told him i knew his secret and he flipped out  
and then i told him i had leblanc bugged and he flipped out even more  
so clearly hes hiding something, and i think its more than ur weird swapping thing  
why are you telling me this  
because hes plotting something!! when someone learns theyre being watched and loses their shit its usually not because they were planning a surprise party or something!! hes a sketchy dude  
sketchy akechi  
do you have any proof?  
akira cmon  
i already said you were right and i was wrong  
the guy is up to something  
youre gonna get yourself killed because youre too enamored with his little act and wont see hes pulling a gun on you until its too late  
you think he wants to kill me  
i don’t know! i just know it cant be good!  
he already knows were phantom thieves!  
and he hasnt turned us in yet  
because hes plotting and waiting for the right moment!  
is this because youre jealous im hanging out with someone besides you and the thieves? im allowed to have other friends futaba  
im being *serious*  
people who dont rely on me to fix all their problems  
dont be an asshole  
im just trying to protect you  
thats only your job in the metaverse  
fine then, ill let you get shot in a 777 parking lot  
im not showing up to your funeral  


He tried to type a response but found that it wouldn’t go through.

He regretted what he’d said, but it was true nonetheless. Goro hadn’t done anything suspicious as far as he could tell. He showed interest in the Phantom Thieves, but it never felt like he was grilling Akira for information. The refusal to summon his persona had been weird, but it was whatever. The only strange thing to happen was the list of names.

_And I just fought with the only person who might’ve been able to help me figure it out._

“I don’t need her,” he muttered. “I’ll figure it out on my own and show her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the stakes grow higher and their positions have been revealed to at least one other Thief. what will they do from here?
> 
> i commissioned some absolutely *incredible* art for this, so if you stick around until chapter 8 you'll get to see that... just a little motivation~


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: medical/surgery mention  
> (Goro gives himself stitches)
> 
> -
> 
> October 22nd  
> Goro Akechi is decided to be the guest at the Shujin Culture Festival

Everything had gone wrong in such a short period of time. Okumura suffered a mental shutdown on national television, and the support poll on the Phan-site dropped from ninety to twenty percent in a matter of days. People were already pointing fingers at the Phantom Thieves, just as Akira had feared. _Murderer_ held a different weight to it than _delinquent_ in the halls, even if people didn’t know they were talking about him. Things grew tense among the Thieves, and he found himself looking forward to the days when he woke up as Goro.

Especially since the boy had stopped coming to the café.

Akira didn’t want to think about what it meant. Didn’t want to entertain the thought that Futaba might’ve been correct in her assumptions.

Instead he kept looking for a connection between those names. Every time he thought he was getting close one of the people wound up dead or locked up in a hospital, and he was at a loss as to where to go.

“Yo, Akira.”

A crumpled piece of paper hit him in the head and tore him from his thoughts.

“You back in the real world finally?” Ryuji asked. “You’re supposed to be counting votes.”

“I don’t see you counting any,” Ann said under her breath.

“Shut it, I’m gathering information online. He wasn’t doing _anything_.”

They worked in silence and Akira tallied up the results from his stack of ballots. Nearly all of them read the same name.

“What the hell?!” Ryuji said suddenly, startling them all. “‘Criminal profiling’? The true goal of the Phantom Thieves is…murder? Every change of heart before Okumura was just a warm-up?”

Makoto sighed. “We have the results. First place is Goro Akechi.”

“What?!”

“What are you so surprised for? We’ve been mentioning him this whole time.”

“We’re the ones countin’ the results. Can’t we just make ‘em up?” he asked. “We don’t _have_ to get him…”

“People would figure that out. He won by a landslide…”

“Then what are we supposed to do? He knows who we are, doesn't he? And you guys want to invite him here?”

“Didn’t the news say he was going to be limiting his media appearances?” Haru asked. “There’s a possibility he wouldn’t even agree!”

“And give up the chance to reveal our identities after we’ve been knocked down like this?”

Makoto pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’d like a little more time to think before we ask him.”

“What’s Futaba been up to?” Ann asked out of nowhere. “She said she was looking into something on her own, right?”

They all turned to him and he realized he’d zoned out again.

“She hasn’t said anything to us,” Morgana said, saving him. “I’m sure she’ll let us know if she finds anything.”

Akira scrolled through his phone and winced as he realized another name from the list, Ryutaro Hamada, had been involved in a traffic accident and was in critical condition. He was briefly aware of someone looking over his shoulder and then the phone was ripped from his hands.

“Who’s this guy?” Ann asked, frowning at the screen. “I’ve never heard of him before.”

“It’s nothing,” he insisted. “It was just in the news so I was curious.”

The phone was passed around the table and he resisted the urge to flinch.

“A sudden traffic accident, hmm? There have been a lot more of those lately,” Makoto said.

“Principal Kobayakawa got hit by a truck, didn’t he? And that was a mental shutdown.”

“You think all these so-called accidents are mental shutdowns in disguise?”

“If you have to kill someone, a car crash is certainly an easy way to do it,” Makoto admitted. “Accidents happen all the time and people rarely question them. They certainly didn’t when it came to my father,” she muttered.

He snatched his phone back and shoved it in his pocket. He knew that what they were saying was true, but he didn’t want to hear it. Not when it was hard enough to drown out the voice in his head that told him he was friends with a murderer.

_If Goro considers us friends at all. Is that why he stopped coming by Leblanc all of a sudden? Because he had better things to do, like commit murders for someone else?_

“Akira,” someone said sharply, and he looked up to realize they were all staring at him again.

“Are you… okay? You’ve been more spacey than usual.”

“It’s just the stress of everything going on. Makoto, I’ll leave the decision of inviting Goro or not up to you.”

 _“Goro?”_ Ann echoed, one eyebrow raised. “Since when are you on first name terms with the Detective Prince?”

He grimaced. “He’s come by Leblanc a few times, and we’ve talked. Not about the Phantom Thieves or anything. He wasn’t grilling me for information.”

“How often?”

“Like… once a week? He’d just stop by if he wanted some coffee. He hasn’t visited in awhile though.”

“And these little weekly meetings were enough that you two are… what, friends?”

“Why are you all so interested?” he snapped. “Are you afraid I’m the reason he knows about us? That I sold us out?”

“Nobody said anything like that,” Haru soothed. “We were just asking--”

_No, but you were thinking it. Doubting your leader, as it I’m not the reason we are where we are today._

He stormed out of the room and didn’t bother looking back as they all called after him.

He needed to find Goro and get some answers. Before Futaba did some digging of her own and shared her findings, and they learned he’d been keeping secrets from them for the past two months.

* * *

The Nav beeped and he dragged a hand down his face, nearly scratching himself with the claws of his gauntlet. There were so many more names than usual. Goro was afraid the deaths of so many people at once would raise some kind of suspicion, but Shido had just insisted it be done that day.

He knew it was his punishment for being unable to fulfill his tasks the week before.

He could feel Loki buzzing in the back of his head, ready to move on and take out their next target, but he didn’t have the strength to get up.

Trips to the metaverse alone were miserable. He had no means with which to get around except on foot so he was tired by the time he reached his second or third hit of the afternoon, and battle only made things worse. Calling upon Loki took a tremendous amount of effort, and by the end of his trips he was usually reaching for his gun instead. That didn’t even touch on the fact that neither of his personas had any _useful_ spells with which he could heal up after a fight. And so he was left fighting his way through endless floors with no respite until he finally reached a waiting room, where he could tear into whatever convenience store snacks he’d managed to snag on his way to Shibuya.

That day it was seasonal oden he’d gotten from the Triple Seven on Central Street. It tasted more like cardboard than anything else and he forced it down. It did little to relieve the fatigue that seemed almost worn into his bones at that point.

Goro knew he needed to get up, or he wouldn’t be able to later, but everything ached. A Girimekhala had caught him off guard and landed an unlucky hit that reopened the wound on his side that had just finished healing the week before.

“What did Kurusu say he could do?” he muttered. “Remind the Shadows of their true selves?” What he wouldn’t give for the ability to convince one of them to join him and heal his wounds. Instead he was left choking down medicine that healed him a bit at a time, but even then it was never enough. He always returned to the real world battered and bruised, and had to keep an eye out for any paparazzi that might snap a picture of him and ruin everything. He could only imagine the stories they’d invent, that he was part of an underground fighting ring or had gotten involved in some yakuza matters.

 _I need to get up,_ he thought, but his legs wouldn’t cooperate.

He gave himself another two minutes to rest before he dragged himself to his feet and started towards the stairs that led deeper into Mementos, Loki calling for the death of their next mark.

* * *

Finding the apartment complex was easy. Spinning a sob story about how his aunt on the sixth floor had fallen and hurt herself and convincing the man posted outside to let him in was even easier. He rushed ahead, weaving down the halls he’d explored as Goro the week before, and ducked into a supply closet he’d discovered was always unlocked. Footsteps raced past a minute later and he waited before slipping out and starting back towards the boy’s apartment.

_Okay, you can do this. Just ask him about the list of names and if he’s connected to the sudden deaths of so many people. He’ll probably call you an idiot for even thinking so, and then you can laugh it off and go back to the others knowing you haven’t befriended a murderer._

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

No answer.

“Goro?” he called, trying again.

Still no response and he frowned. He didn’t even hear movement behind the door, and there was no light underneath. He wasn’t home.

“Then I just ran around for nothing,” he grumbled, starting towards the elevator. He tapped his foot as he waited for it, checking over his shoulder in case the doorman came back.

The doors opened and he froze as the scent of blood hit him. Then he realized it was coming from Goro, who was clutching his side and looking about as horrified as Akira felt.

“I don’t suppose there’s any talking my way out of this one, is there?” he asked with a laugh, but it was clear his voice was strained.

“What--”

“We can talk in my apartment. The last thing I need is the neighbors to see me like this.”

* * *

“Can I get you anything?” Kurusu asked as he all but fell back on the couch, hissing in pain.

“There’s a kit in the bathroom,” he said through grit teeth. “Not the first aid kit, it’s the other one. Grab that and boil some water for me.”

He did as he was told and Goro took a deep breath before shedding his blazer, his every muscle screaming. While the blood hadn’t soaked through to the outside of the coat, it was on the lining and he knew he’d have to get it dry cleaned again. His shirt, however, was ruined. No amount of bleach would save it anymore and he just pressed it tighter against the wound.

Kurusu returned a minute later with the kit and hesitated.

“I know you’re just _dying_ to ask what happened, but I’m not in the mood to talk.”

“What do you need me to do?”

He was so surprised he gave a sharp bark of laughter, wincing as pain shot up his side. “Get me two towels and soak one of them in the water.”

“What are you planning on doing?”

“Suturing it closed, obviously.”

“You can’t be serious--!”

“This isn’t my first time doing this. Did you truly think those stitches last month were done by a professional?”

“You need to go to a hospital.”

“Not an option. Now unless you want me to bleed out on this couch, you’ll get me what I said.”

“Goro--”

_“Kurusu, it wasn’t an empty threat.”_

His tone was enough to shock the boy out of his daze and a minute later he had the towels in his hand.

“You may want to leave, though whether that’s the room or the apartment is up to you. This isn’t going to be pleasant.”

He didn’t move.

“Stubborn fool,” he muttered, rifling through the kit until he found what he needed. He tried to thread the needle but his hands were shaking and Kurusu did it for him.

“This is your last chance to get out of here and pretend you didn’t see any of this.”

“I’m not going to just leave you bleeding out in your apartment.”

 _Don’t say I didn’t warn you_ , he thought. He pulled back the shirt and heard the boy’s breath catch, but he didn’t run.

“The dry towel,” he said, nails digging into his palms. Kurusu handed it to him and he stuffed it in his mouth, and then motioned for the other one. As soon as it made contact with the wound a scream tore itself from his throat and the other boy flinched. Goro cleaned it as quickly as he could and spat out the cloth, trying to keep his breathing even.

Kurusu opened his mouth to say something but a glare shut him up.

“If you ask if I’m okay I might have to kill you.”

“...I was going to ask if there was anything I could do.”

He couldn’t remember the last time the pain had been so bad. He was afraid something had gone legitimately wrong and that the shadow had nicked something vital. Now that the blood was cleared away he could see far more of himself than he would’ve liked.

“Painkillers. Medicine cabinet, second shelf, right side.”

He was gone in an instant and Goro grabbed the needle. The towel had fallen to the floor and he didn’t risk bending over to get it, so he took a deep breath and poked it through the first layer of his skin. He bit down so hard on his lip he tasted blood, but it didn’t stop the noise that clawed its way out of him.

Kurusu was immediately at his side again but he didn’t have time to deal with his protests. He stitched it up as best he could, every movement of the thread along his flesh enough to bring fresh tears to his eyes.

Finally it was done and he grabbed the bottle from the boy, the pills going down easy with the blood in his mouth. Goro turned to him as a blackness crept in along the corners of his vision.

“I’m going to pass out now,” he said matter-of-factly.

When he came to again his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and he tried to sit up only to be met with a sharp pain that ran along the whole left side of his body.

_Mementos. That damn shadow. Patching myself up. Food. Food?_

He pushed past the pain and forced himself into a seated position at least, and found Kurusu in the kitchen. As soon as he realized Goro was awake he rushed over.

“You said you were going to pass out and then you _did_ and you wouldn’t get up no matter what I did and you scared me and I wasn’t sure if I should bring you to a hospital or not and--”

“Breathe,” he said with the best smirk he could manage. “You’re not the one that just underwent impromptu surgery.”

“Oh god, you cracked a joke. It’s more serious than I thought.”

Goro scowled at him. “How long was I out?” he asked, tripping over his tongue.

“Little less than an hour. I didn’t want to leave you and there wasn’t anything else to do so I started cooking.”

“Can you make anything other than curry? I had a huge tupperware of it in my fridge after we swapped for the first time.”

“I was stressed,” he said, as though that explained anything.

“I can’t stand spicy food.”

Kurusu frowned. “You’re acting weird. Or… weirder than usual. How many of those painkillers did you take?”

Thinking made his head hurt. Whatever the actual answer was, it was clear the boy wasn’t going to like it. “Why are you really in my apartment?”

“I told you, I didn’t want to leave you alone after you _performed surgery on yourself_.”

“No, you were already here when I came back. Why were you in my building?”

“It’s not important right now. We could always talk about why you’re a featherman fan?” he said teasingly, one brow raised, but Goro saw how he flinched for a second.

“My mother bought me a Red Hawk blaster a week before she killed herself. Why were you in my building?” he repeated.

Kurusu looked as though he’d suddenly grown a second head, although he supposed the reaction was justified. Goro wasn’t sure _why_ he’d suddenly told him. It felt as though he were watching from the outside and couldn’t stop himself.

“...I think you should rest some more,” the boy said at last. “Forget about the curry, I’ll make you something that isn’t spicy.”

“You came here for answers, didn’t you? I must say it took you long enough to figure it out. You’ve lived as me… how many days now? What gave it away, the list?”

 _“Goro,”_ he said sharply, but his voice wavered.

He didn’t understand why he was saying such things. He wanted to just clamp his jaw shut but he _couldn’t_.

Kurusu seemed to know something was wrong as well and looked around helplessly. “I… I should go. I’ll leave the curry in the fridge in case you change your mind.” He scrambled to his feet and nearly walked into a wall as he hurried out.

As soon as the door slammed shut he jumped up and barely made it to the bathroom before the retching started.

* * *

Akira’s hands shook as he waited for the train and he shoved them in his pockets.

_Why am I upset? I’d suspected he was the one behind the shutdowns, and I got my proof. I should be… glad, or something! I can report this to Futaba and she can keep tabs on his phone._

It didn’t stop the nausea that churned in the bottom of his stomach, threatening to come up at any moment. The boy in that room may have been wearing Goro Akechi’s face, but it wasn’t him. The Goro he knew would never willingly give up information like that.

_Do I even know him at all? I thought I did, but it’s clear he puts on an act for TV. Who’s to say he doesn’t have a mask he wears around me?_

He could hear the train coming, the tracks rattling, and he stepped out of line. Just the idea of standing in a cramped car with strangers as they were jostled along to their destinations was almost enough to push him over the edge.

He dug his phone out of his pocket and paled as he realized he had seven missed messages from different people. He swiped them out of the way, looking for one contact in particular. He needed to tell Makoto not to invite Goro to speak at the festival. They could use his excuse of not making any public appearances, or come up with something else. He couldn’t allow the Thieves to be near him if he was going to react unpredictably again. Then there was the fact that there was no way he’d be healed up enough to talk at the festival.

A mark next to Makoto’s name told him she’d texted him as well, and his stomach dropped.

Kung Fu Panda  
  
ive made up my mind, we can invite akechi  
  
maybe even get some information out of him  
  


If they got him talking there was a high probability he’d talk about more than just his thoughts on the mental shutdowns or the Phantom Thieves.

He knew he couldn’t change Makoto’s mind. Especially not after his outburst earlier. He figured they found him suspicious enough already, and asking them not to get information out of the person closest to the police was basically admitting that there was _something_ going on between the two of them. It just wouldn’t be the _something_ they were expecting.

He sent a quick message, his hands still shaking, and got a reply almost instantly.

Tech Master >:3  
  
you ever gonna reimburse me for all this train fare?  
  


Then he made his way outside and wondered how Futaba was going to get out of the house without Sojiro noticing.

He got his answer as he waited by the station. People spilled out and he kept waiting for a shock of orange hair, ready to comfort the probably distraught girl after he made her take the train on her own. Instead a horn startled him and he found a familiar car with a very angry looking Sojiro inside.

“Futaba told me all about your little plan. Get in.”

“What are you--”

 _“Get in,”_ he repeated.

Akira didn’t have to be told a third time. He buckled himself in and did his best not to meet the man’s disappointed gaze.

“Caught her at the front door and she said she was meeting you in Shibuya. I wasn’t about to let her take the train by herself this late at night and told her I’d get you.”

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Can you tell me why you’re trying to convince my daughter to become a deviant? First she won’t leave the house, and now she can’t get out of it enough. What the hell were you two even going to do in Shibuya?”

Akira didn’t think the man would like that they were going to hang out at Big Bang Burger and discuss the boy who was the culprit behind all of the mental shutdowns on the news. Instead he shrugged.

“Bullshit. Y’know what? If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine, but can you at _least_ hang around the shop sometimes? It’s not like there’s ever any customers to overhear… whatever it is you two are scheming all the time. Unless--” He looked over and shot the boy such a glare Akira drew back. “You two aren’t together, are you? Sneaking around behind my back?”

“No!” he assured him, hands raised in submission. “No! I mean, she’s a nice girl, but-- god, no.”

He still scowled. “Your little rendezvous can wait until tomorrow now. I’m taking you back to the shop, and if you have her try to sneak in I’ll still make good on my threat to put you out on the streets.”

Akira tried not to let the man see he was smiling. He only broke out that threat when he wanted to sound intimidating, because otherwise he’d give in to whatever Akira wanted from him. It meant he was forgiven.

He said goodnight to Sojiro and locked up Leblanc behind him, and found a furious Morgana waiting for him.

“Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?”

“Relax, tomorrow’s Sunday and I don’t have school.”

“Where were you?” he asked again, tail lashing.

“Just out,” he said with a shrug. “How’d you get home anyway? I’m fairly certain I left you at school.”

“You _did_. Lady Ann brought me back. You should’ve seen Sojiro’s face when that happened. If he didn’t already know you were sneaking me to school with you, he does now. Hey, are you even listening to me?!”

Akira was already typing out a message to Futaba.

Tech Master >:3  
  
some phantom thief you are, getting caught sneaking out of ur own house  
  
you try getting past sojiro  
i have on several occasions  
  
getting out of doing work in the cafe doesn’t count as sneaking past him! you just ignore what he says and walk out and he doesnt bother chasing you down!  
is that not considered getting past him?  
  
**Tech Master >:3** changed **Nyakira's** nickname to **Smug Asshole** **  
** this seems uncalled for **  
  
** what did you even want  
have you finally come to your senses about detective boy?  
change my name, then well talk  
**  
** god fine so needy  
**Tech Master >:3 ** changed **Smug Asshole's** nickname to **Attic Trash** **  
** better?  
no?  
okay good what were we gonna meet up about and why cant this wait until tomorrow

He hesitated. While he’d talked to Futaba since they argued over Goro’s behavior, he didn’t want to admit that she had been right.

Tech Master >:3  
  
i have a tech favor to ask of you  
  
i am a tech master >:3  
  
bug akechis phone  
  


He watched as the _**typing…**_ icon hovered for a few minutes before she responded again.

Tech Master >:3  
  
something happened today  
  


It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t bother answering.

Tech Master >:3  
  
ann brought mona back today and ur phone went somewhere i didnt recognize  
  
an apartment complex  
  
you visited him, didnt you?  
  
yes  
  
to confront him? or warn him?  
  
does it matter? i just need you to bug his phone for me  
  
so its a *need* now, and not just a favor  
  
what do you want me to say?  
  
you could start by apologizing  
  
since you never did, and clearly i was right  
  
or you wouldnt be asking me about this  
  
im sorry  
  
you were right and i was wrong  
  
hes sketchy  
  
now please help me bug his phone so things dont get worse  
  
hes behind the shutdowns, isnt he?  
  
i think so, yes  
  
is he the one who killed my mom?  
  
i dont know  
  
and thats not just an excuse  
  
i feel like i barely know him even tho ive lived as him a bunch of times  
  


He was met with silence.

Tech Master >:3  
  
futaba?  
  
if he is, i swear i didnt know  
  
i wouldnt have gotten close to him if i did  
  
what do you expect to do if i can bug his phone?  
  
you can stop him when he gets his next list of targets?  
  


He didn’t have an answer for her. He had _no idea_ what he was planning, just that he needed to feel like he was doing something. That he wasn’t just waiting for these people to die.

Tech Master >:3  
  
i want to talk to him about why hes doing this  
  
and convince him theres another way  
  
your naivety is both endearing and infuriating  
  
says the girl who was a shut in for two years! youre plenty naive about the world!  
  
yeah yeah  
  
ill see what i can do about the bug  
  
itll be difficult without seeing the phone itself  
  
...i should be able to help you with that  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the truth comes out... or at least part of it
> 
> i know i don't really reply to comments, but they really do make my whole day and i appreciate them more than i can express. please don't take my anxiety as indifference.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> November 1st  
> Sae's palace infiltration is underway

He woke up in Goro’s apartment and groaned, already reaching for his phone. Futaba had planted two apps on the device the last time they’d swapped, with one to monitor Goro’s calls and everything else he did, and the other to communicate with the Thieves. He wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, but it looked as though the messages were coming from his own phone and the others hadn’t noticed anything weird about it.

  
Nyakira  
no palace infiltration today, well do it tomorrow if thats good with everyone  


Then he set it aside and got ready for the day, covering up dark circles and gelling down his hair the way Goro had told him. He had a video interview that day before he could attend afternoon classes, and the boy was fed up with his sloppy appearance whenever Akira stood in for him. He did his best not to think about the scars that marred the body or how he could distinctly see each rib as he pulled on a blazer that would hide how thin he was.

His phone buzzed and he realized it was the rest of the Thieves complaining about the sudden change in date.

  
bonkin  
cmon its so hard to find times we can all meet up  
bonkin  
especially with akechi on the team now  
#1 Shiho Stan  
yeah what happened that you cant make it  
Nyakira  
its a work thing, sorry  
#1 Shiho Stan  
so work is more important than thieves stuff???  
Nyakira  
i didnt say that  
Nyakira  
how do you think im funding all of ur weapon upgrades anyway  
Kung Fu Panda  
as anxious as i am to get this palace out of the way, were still early into things  
Kung Fu Panda  
i think its fine if we postpone it for a day or two  
Tech Master >:3  
queen out here saving ur ass akira  
Nyakira  
im in ur debt  
Nyakira  
how can i repay you  
Kung Fu Panda  
you could tell us why you’re postponing the infiltration?  
Tech Master >:3  
BETRAYAL  
#1 Shiho Stan  
stone cold queen  


_Forgive me, Goro,_ he thought, and switched to the main messenger app.

  
I’m sure he has his reasons.  
Tech Master >:3  
of course youd be on his side ( ￣д￣)  


He waited to see if the girl would say anything else but she kept her mouth shut. The rest of his friends still didn’t know about the swapping, and he wanted to keep it that way. He wasn’t sure how any of them would take it after it took Futaba nearly a month to be convinced.

  
Lobsters™  
my schedule is open outside of school, as usual  
bonkin  
not like im doing much either, its everyone else thats busy  
Nyakira  
are we good for tomorrow?  
Kung Fu Panda  
arent you supposed to be getting ready for school? we can talk about this later  
Tech Master >:3  
lmao she called you out  
Kung Fu Panda  
im sure theres something you should be doing too futaba  
Nyakira  
lmao she called you out  


He closed the apps and studied his reflection for a moment. He looked enough like Goro to pass. Then he put on his best smile and watched as it slowly warped into a grimace. He still didn’t know how to act on camera, much to the boy’s chagrin. They couldn’t exactly schedule each others’ days around each other because there was no telling when they’d switch, so instead they were left playing catch up whenever it happened, even two months after it had started.

An alarm on the phone went off and he grabbed the laptop and made his way to the living room. It was showtime.

* * *

Goro wanted to believe that the swapping was happening because of some connection between him and Kurusu, that whatever god or demon had given him his persona was having a laugh at their expense. He’d hoped that once he’d joined forces with the Phantom Thieves the phenomenon would stop and he’d be free to carry out his plan without the risk of Kurusu or his friends finding out any more about his shady dealings with Shido, or the attempt on Kurusu’s life he was supposed to carry out in three weeks.

It was clear God enjoyed watching him suffer, as he woke up to a cat in his face and his phone buzzing nonstop.

“You’d better answer that,” Mona said. “It’s been going off for awhile. Everyone’s up earlier than usual.”

He bit back a threat and rolled over to grab the phone. It wasn’t the group chat, but rather a single annoying Sakura.

Tech Master >:3  
  
hey  
  
hey  
  
hey  
  
akira  
  
akira  
  
hey akira  
  
What.  
  
you are akira today right?  
  
Of course I am.  
  
oh ur TOTALLY goro today  
  
Don't use my name.  
  
I KNEW IT  
  


_Fuck._

Tech Master >:3  
  
Is there a reason you’re bothering me so early in the morning?  
  
I thought you were incapable of being awake before noon.  
  
bitch you thought  
  
no but i need ur help today  
  
Absolutely not.  
  
wow ur not even pretending to be akira anymore huh  
  
Why bother putting on an act when you know it’s me?  
  
yah but like  
  
not even ur detective prince act? damn  
  
but seriously i need ur help  
  
or i need akiras and ur all i have today  
  
The answer is still no.  
  
cmon ill pay you  
  
I don’t need money.  
  
then i can give you, like, information or something  
  
idk  
  
what do you want?  
  


_For you to shut up, and for your leader to hurry up and die._

Tech Master >:3  
  
Nothing.  
  
what if i change ur name back in the group chat?  
  


He hesitated. It was _so_ tempting to have them stop calling him Pancake Boy… but he knew he was talking to the original Medjed. There were more worthwhile things he could get out of her.

Tech Master >:3  
  
I'll think on it, what do you need?  
  
theyre releasing new featherman figures today in akihabara  
  
i wanna go but… the crowds are too much  
  
especially if my key item is gonna be a fake (＃`Д´)  
  
can you buy me the set??? ill pay you back of course  
  
and change ur name back  
  
Why should I?  
  
because if you dont ill tell everyone ur not really akira  
  
So what? It’s not like they’ll believe you.  
  
ill make it go viral that ur a featherman fan  
  
and im talking *viral*  
  
you know i could  
  
...Have I mentioned how much I hate you recently?  
  
no, but i know (─‿‿─)  
  
youve just gotta go after school  
  
since queen would kick both our butts if she found out you skipped for that, and i made you lmao  
  
theres a couple stores selling them today, ill keep an eye online and tell you which has the best price later  
  
I never actually agreed to this, you know.  
  
but you will  
  
mister red hawk blaster  
  
He told you.  
  
i mean ur pretty obvious about it  
  
but yeah he told me  
  
how could he not you have a first edition red hawk blaster sealed up in ur apartment  
  
did ur mom get it for you or something?  
  


_She… doesn’t know_ , he realized. _He only told her about the gun’s existence, not the story behind it._

Tech Master >:3  
  
Don’t you have featherman figures to be researching?  
  
ehhhh ill have all day to do that while ur at school  
  
especially since i cant bully you while ur in class  
  
or i can but its not as fun  
  
Just a reminder that I’m doing you a *favor* later.  
  
fine fine ill leave you alone for a bit  
  
you better not forget!  
  
I don’t think you’ll let me.  
  


He silenced the phone before she could spam him any more and started hunting for Kurusu’s uniform while Mona watched.

“Did they say something to upset you or something? You looked kind of angry there.”

“It was just Futaba being Futaba,” he said, forcing a smile he hoped looked playful instead of murderous.

The cat nodded in understanding. “Well, you’d better hurry up if you don’t want to be late.”

* * *

He was in class when his phone buzzed in his pocket, and he made sure no one was looking before he snuck a glance at it.

Tech Master >:3  
  
akiraaaaaaaaaa  
  
akira akira akira  
  
im in class  
  
since when do you care about getting caught texting in class  
  
goro does and i cant have people suspecting him  
  
goro goro goro  
  
i know you guys have that weird thing going on but are you *sure* you dont have feelings for him or something?  
  
did you just message me to harass me or was there a point to this?  
  
if akechi wasnt such an ass in ur body id think you two swapped personalities too  
  
can you skip ur next class?? i found something youll wanna hear  
  
just text me and ill look at it later  
  
its not really a textable thing….  
  
im being serious here this is super important  
  
like 100% not joking for a sec  
  
please???  
  


His head snapped up as someone called Goro’s name and he realized the teacher was glaring at him. “Mr. Akechi, you may think that you’re above this because of your status as a detective, but you’re _not_. Now pay attention like everyone else!”

He glanced at the phone again.

Tech Master >:3  
  
twenty minutes  
  


Then he deleted the chat and silenced the phone before the teacher asked to see what was so important. He’d learned that the hard way after Ryuji sent one too many messages about when they were going to meet up and plan their next infiltration. He’d had to play it off as meeting up for some kind of online game, not that Ms. Chouno had seemed to believe him.

The next twenty minutes passed at a snail’s pace, and by the time the bell finally rang his every nerve was coiled up like a spring. He forced himself to take extra time in putting his things back in his briefcase and waited until the classroom was empty before taking his leave.

It wasn’t hard to find the stairs to the roof, and with a lockpick he’d made the period before he found himself free from prying eyes in a matter of minutes.

His phone rang right on schedule and he hid in the farthest corner before picking up.

“Alright, what’s so important this couldn’t wait?”

_“It’s still so weird to hear his voice but know it’s you.”_

“Futaba,” he said sharply. “I have other classes after this.”

_“Sorry, sorry. So you know how you were pretty sure Akechi was the one behind the mental shutdowns?”_

“Kind of hard to forget.”

_“Okay, well, I’ve found out it’s more than that.”_

“And?”

The girl hesitated.

“Did you find out his next targets?”

_“Sort of….”_

“Futaba, we can’t come up with a way around this if you don’t tell me what he's planning in the first place.”

_“It’s… you.”_

He swallowed thickly. “Run that by me again?”

_“You’re his target, Akira. You’re not next, but you’re on his list.”_

“And how do you know this?”

_“He was talking to someone about a plan on the 20th. Of this month, it sounded like. Do you know what else is happening right around that time?”_

“...The calling card.”

_“Exactly. He said we should wait until the last possible second to ramp up the tension and make sure Makoto’s sister doesn’t dismiss this as some kind of prank. Do you think he was pushing for that date because he had some kind of ulterior motive?”_

“Wait, wait, go back a second. We know he’s behind the mental shutdowns, and that they’re caused by killing someone’s Shadow. I don’t have a Shadow,” he said, gesturing even though he knew she couldn’t see him. “Mona said a persona is your Shadow once you accept it, or something like that.”

_“I kind of already thought of that,”_ she said quietly.

He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what she said next.

_“I… don’t think they were talking about a mental shutdown.”_

“You think he wants to kill me--!” He forced himself to lower his voice as he remembered where he was. “You think he’s going to kill me in the real world?”

_“I… I don’t know,”_ she admitted. _“But I don’t know how else he would be able to do anything to you when your Shadow is a part of you.”_

His legs felt weak and he slowly slid to the ground. “And you’re positive he said the 20th of this month?”

_“Hundred percent.”_

“ _Shit_ ,” he hissed. “What are we supposed to tell the others? How do we work around this?”

_“I’d already planned on telling everyone else this afternoon, but then you ended up swapped… I sent Akechi on an adventure today to keep him away from the café. But I don’t really know how to tell them why I had his phone bugged in the first place, or why you’re not there.”_

His hands shook and his stomach churned as her voice broke, and he was thankful she couldn’t see him. “...They’ve seen how Crow acts in the palace, and he already knew about us since he could hear Morgana talking about pancakes. It’s not too much of a stretch to suspect that there’s something going on with him, so I asked you to bug his phone. And then we found out about this.”

_“But how come you can’t be there to tell them yourself? They’re not just gonna believe it coming from me!”_

“Work held me up,” he said, the story coming naturally to him at that point. “Did you just hear about this today?”

_“Yesterday.”_

“Then I’d planned to call a meeting today but this came up and I couldn’t get out of the shift no matter how hard I tried. I entrusted you to tell them, especially since you have the proof on your laptop. And Goro wouldn’t be there because it’s about him!”

_“I still don’t like this…”_

“If anyone says anything, tell them to text me their complaints. And if they’re still not satisfied I’ll talk to them myself tomorrow.”

She sighed. _“What are we supposed to do about the plan itself? I don’t think even you can sneak your way out of an assassination attempt…”_

“Hey, hey, it’s not an _assassination attempt_. It’s just… It’s just a job Goro has to do. And I’ll bet you I can talk him out of it.”

_“Not even your persuasion skills are that good.”_

“You’d be surprised what that old politician has taught me,” he said, managing a laugh. His phone beeped and he checked it with a muffled curse. “I’ve got to get back to class, Futaba. We’ll figure something out before the day comes, alright? We’ve got three weeks to work this out. And when have we ever failed before?”

_When you were so focused on fame you fell right into a trap and got yourself blamed for the death of Okumura. And the killer was your own friend, the one you’ve gotten close to over the past two months_ , his brain added helpfully.

Futaba was silent on the other end and he wasn’t sure whether she’d hung up or not.

_“...I’ll do my best,”_ she said at last. _“But I’m counting on you to fix whatever mess I make of this.”_

“That’s my job as your leader. Clean up whatever you guys make a mess of.”

There was no laughter from the girl as he expected. Instead the call ended and he let out a shaky breath.

_So Goro’s been ordered to kill me… How am I going to get out of this one?_

* * *

Nyakira  
  
i found the shop with the best price on the figures, ill send you the info  
  
you better get them for me or ill make good on ur threat about telling the country you like featherman  
  
I already agreed, didn’t I? Backing out now wouldn’t do much good.  
  
okay good  
  
[Attachment: 1 image]  
  
onward, my key item mimic!  
  


She waited to see if he would offer some kind of snarky reply before starting the next phase of her plan.

Super Serious Thieves Business  
  
**Tech Master >:3** has created Super Serious Thieves Business  
**Tech Master >:3** has added **Kung Fu Panda, bonkin, #1 Shiho Stan, Lobsters™,** and **Burger Queen** to Super Serious Thieves Business  
listen up everyone emergency meeting at leblanc today dont ask questions just show up after school  
bonkin  
why arent akira and akechi in this chat  
dammit skull i *just* said dont ask questions  
Burger Queen  
im curious as well  
okay noir you get a pass ur too pure  
bonkin  
WHAT  
but i cant tell you over text so hurry up and get over here  
Kung Fu Panda  
i cant come right over, since akira cancelled the infiltration i already made plans with the student council  
okay not trying to be dramatic here but like  
this is life or death stuff  
Kung Fu Panda  
you said that about leaving a meeting early to catch one of your shows once  
no im being 100% serious  
1000000% serious  
Kung Fu Panda  
i cant just cancel my plans, futaba, i already did that once  
queen please  
this is legit  
jokers in trouble  
#1 Shiho Stan  
you promise this is real?  
yes!!! yes!!!  
a hundred times yes!!!  
#1 Shiho Stan  
then ill be over after class  
panther i owe you my LIFE  
and also jokers  
the rest of you better show up  


She put the phone down and chewed at a hangnail. She _hated_ waiting. Especially when she wasn’t sure who was going to listen to her.

She got her answer half an hour later as Ann, Ryuji, and Haru entered, immediately claiming a booth for themselves. Yusuke wasn’t far behind and Sojiro had coffee ready for him before he even sat down.

They waited another ten minutes but Makoto showed no signs of showing up.

“We should probably start without her,” Ann said gently. “Why don’t you start by telling us why Akira isn’t here? You said something about him being in danger.”

The girl shook and curled her fingers in her hair, resisting the urge to pull at it. Already things were going wrong and Akira was going to wind up dead because she couldn’t convince them that Akechi was bad news without revealing Akira’s secret.

“Futaba?” someone asked, and she just curled tighter in on herself.

_I shouldn’t have agreed to do this without Akira._

Then the bell above the door rang and Makoto all but collapsed in the seat across from her.

“I did my best to finish up my work early, but I might have to look over some papers while we’re talking. Now what’s all this about, Futaba?”

She took a deep breath and put her shoulders back, forcing herself to look at everyone. “I know we’ve all had some suspicions about Akechi, but I have proof that things are worse than we thought.”

“Worse how?” Ryuji asked without looking up from his phone.

Her hands shook as she opened her laptop and pulled up the clip she’d grabbed as soon as Akechi had answered the phone. His voice filled the café as she hit play.

_“...We could say he stole the guard’s gun and committed suicide during his imprisonment...”_

Yusuke’s cup slid from his grasp but nobody seemed to notice.

_Okay, you’ve got their attention,_ she thought to herself. _Now just keep it long enough to explain the rest of the plan._

* * *

By the time Goro got back to Leblanc it was far later than he’d anticipated, and he didn’t have any Featherman figures to show for himself. The shop Futaba had sent him to assured him they hadn’t had exclusive merchandise for a few months and there weren’t any plans to get more for awhile. He’d ended up asking around most of the shops on the main drag, not willing to go back empty handed. He could _not_ let that gremlin tell the country about his former fascination with the show. Not when she didn’t understand why.

He made his way to the attic without much more than a questioning look from Sakura-san, who seemed used to Kurusu disappearing at all hours of the night. Then he stepped into the room and froze.

The younger Sakura was on his couch, browsing between her laptop and phone. She must’ve heard his footsteps because she whipped around and slammed the device shut.

“Oh man, what time is it? Does Sojiro know I’m not home yet?!”

She tried to push past him but he easily blocked the stairs and pushed her back. “There were no new Featherman figures in Akihabara.”

“What? That site totally said they released today! Man, you didn’t get me _anything?_ Now I’ve gotta make you go viral, and that’s so much work,” she whined.

“You lied to me.”

“Wh-What? No I didn’t, I thought they released today!”

“You got me out of the shop for _hours_. What did you do while I was gone? Hold a meeting with your little friends? Have Kurusu come here?”

She stumbled back and he grabbed her arm. _“What did you do?”_

“Akechi, you’re hurting me--” she whimpered.

“You can tell me now, or I’ll find out later, on my own.”

“Nothing happened--”

_“You’re lying.”_

“It was nothing!” she insisted. “Akira called off the infiltration and everyone stopped by anyway because we’d already set the day aside! We just talked about our next steps for the palace!”

Her eyes kept darting around and he sighed, tightening his grip until she yelped. “Do you think I’m an idiot just because I don’t actually solve those cases as the Detective Prince? How do you think I got my position in the first place? I’ve had to claw my way up from _nothing_ , making sure I was the best at everything I tried. I’m not _stupid_.”

She swallowed thickly.

“I don’t believe you told them. You at least have enough common sense to keep that a secret, because you know what I’m capable of. No… but you did something else. You wouldn’t have gone behind my back and sent me away if you hadn’t.”

The girl wiped at her eyes with her free hand and stomped on his foot as hard as she could.

_“Fuck!”_

She was past him in an instant, and he heard the door slam a moment later.

Futaba Sakura was a force to be reckoned with. He’d have to truly break her if he wanted her compliant and out of the way.

Lucky for him, he knew her weakness. He’d been living it for the past two months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uni went from "i learned all this in high school" to "i have no idea what's going on and at this point i'm too afraid to ask" in like a day and a half and i'm still trying to comprehend it, please excuse my lack of fun end notes this week


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> November 20th  
> You know >:3
> 
> CW: it *is* the interrogation room so fair warning for the violence that comes along with that

He glanced at his phone again, looking for any kind of change. A message, an alert, anything to distract him. There was nothing and he was left pacing in the attic, just waiting for his friends to arrive.

_What if this isn’t enough?_ he thought. _What if I can’t convince Sae-san? What if the plan fails? What will happen to everyone? To Sojiro? To Goro?_

His thoughts began to spiral and his breath came in gasps. Goro wasn’t an idiot. He was going to figure out the trick and come for him in the real world, just as he’d planned from the beginning. How could they possibly think he wouldn’t realize he’d entered the metaverse? Akira didn’t know how long he’d been enacting mental shutdowns for his client, but it was clear he understood Mementos better than the rest of them if he could regularly survive trips alone.

Everything in him told him to run, to get out of the café before it was too late. He couldn’t go through with the plan when there were so many things that could go wrong. The attic felt as though it were spinning and he realized he was trembling, though whether from fear or cold he couldn’t tell. All he knew was that he couldn’t breathe, and his friends would be arriving any minute.

_Come on, pull yourself together. You’re the leader of the Phantom Thieves, you’ve done the impossible countless times before! You don’t even have to do anything this time except convince Sae-san to show Goro the phone!_

Knowing that he was being irrational did nothing to stop him from reacting in such a way. If anything it made his anxiety worse, to know that he couldn’t control his body no matter how much he wanted to.

He heard the door slam downstairs and he froze, his chest heaving. He was out of time.

“Akira?” came a voice.

_No. No, no, no, don’t come up here--!_

Futaba appeared a moment later, laptop under her arm, and she stopped as she caught sight of him.

She was at his side in an instant, her hands out but not touching him. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay, I’m here. Look at me.”

He couldn’t _breathe_ , let alone look at her.

“Akira, listen to my voice. Count to ten with me. One.”

“One,” he managed, his voice choked.

“Two… Three…”

His heart was still racing by the time they reached ten, but he could focus on things besides the roaring in his head.

“You’re doing good, okay? You can get through this.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and kept counting in his head, until things quieted down again and he could swallow the lump in his throat.

“I’m gonna hug you. Is that okay?”

He was vaguely aware he was nodding and then there was a pair of arms wrapped around him.

“It’s okay. You’re here.”

“...Thank you,” he said at last.

“I’ve dealt with this kind of stuff before,” she said quietly, making no move to let go. “You’ve gotta ground yourself in the present, and counting or listing things is a good way to do it. I just… never had anyone to count with me.”

He slowly returned the embrace. “You shouldn’t have had to see me like that.”

She drew back and scowled at him. “Don’t even start with that. We’re teammates and we’re _friends_ , and that means we help each other. You can’t solo every enemy, y’know?” At that she cracked a grin and he found himself smiling as well.

They both seemed to realize there were voices below and he tensed up.

“This is about the plan, isn’t it?”

He didn’t answer, but it was confirmation enough.

“We’ve gone over it a hundred times, and that’s only a _slight_ exaggeration. Everything’s going to work perfectly. And if it _doesn’t--_ ” She retrieved her laptop from where she’d set it down. “I have a live feed of the room where it’s going to happen. If Akechi gets out of the metaverse and shows up on these cameras, I’ll know in an instant and be able to help. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that even you guys don’t know about.”

“Is that because they’re illegal?”

“I think your life is more important than a few outdated rules.”

“They’re _laws_ , Futaba.”

“Irrelevant!”

He gave a shaky laugh. “Sojiro’s actually going to throw me out if he finds out I’m letting you break the law in the name of the Phantom Thieves.”

“As if I haven’t done that a bunch of times already,” she scoffed. “Do you think you’re ready to go downstairs now? If not I could tell everyone to give you a few minutes.”

“No, I… I have to do this.”

“You don’t _have_ to do anything. If you need some time to pull yourself together, they’ll understand. This is a big day for all of us, but you especially.”

“No, not for them,” he muttered. “It’s now or never. If I don’t force myself down there, I know I won’t be able to.”

He didn’t wait for Futaba to tell him how unhealthy his methods were, as he was already aware. Instead he just took a deep breath and went downstairs, where most of the Thieves were already gathered. Goro was noticeably absent and he glanced at his phone. It read four minutes past ten. The boy was _never_ late, and it only further cemented the fact that that day was unlike any other for them.

“How’s everyone feeling?” Ann asked brightly. “We ready to change another heart?”

Nobody answered and Makoto’s hands slowly tightened into fists. “We cannot afford to run behind schedule today,” she reminded him.

“We’re not going without him,” Akira said firmly.

“I wasn’t going to suggest that. Merely… that we remind him, perhaps?”

He wasn’t going to admit that Goro had stopped answering most of his messages.

“I don’t like this,” Haru said from her seat at the counter, so quiet he nearly missed it. “Why are we still working with him after everything he’s done? Everything he’s going to do?”

“The day of the heist is a pretty bad time to be having doubts,” he said, unable to keep the bite out of his voice. Makoto gave him a look but he didn’t care. She wasn’t the one who was going to be shot in the head in a few hours if their plan failed.

“No infighting,” Morgana said, jumping up on the table between them.

He didn’t get to retort as the bell above the door rang and Goro entered, looking disheveled. “I apologize if I made you wait for me, I didn’t want to exhaust myself biking here today and the trains were running late. Are we ready to go?”

The café was otherwise silent except for Mona’s tail thumping on the table, and Goro gave a nervous laugh. “Is this hostility because this will be your last job? Or because you’re changing the heart of someone you know?”

Haru took a sip of her coffee and put down the cup with a bit too much force, and the spell seemed to break. “We should hurry to the courthouse.”

They all filed out the door until only Akira was left.

“Is there something going on with your friends I should know about?” he asked. “Have they figured us out, perhaps?”

“You heard Haru,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. “We should get to the courthouse before we lose any more time.”

“You too, Kurusu? Giving me the cold shoulder out of nowhere?”

“ _Akechi_ ,” he said sharply, unable to summon his friendly act.

His smile disappeared. “...Fine. Let’s go before your _friends_ get the wrong idea.”

He hoped the boy couldn’t see how his hands were shaking as they walked to the station.

* * *

_“I’ve listened to your whole story, so I may as well play along to the end.”_

Sae’s words kept repeating in his head, the only thing keeping him grounded. He just had to believe that she’d understood what he was getting at and show him the phone, and that Futaba’s plan would work. If it didn’t… He didn’t want to think about the alternative.

He pitched forward and snapped awake again. What with the drugs, wounds, and the fact that he’d barely slept more than a few hours in the days leading up to the heist, he kept fighting the urge to nod off. He needed to be awake in case things went wrong. In case the door in front of him opened again and Goro walked through. In case their plan failed and he found himself with a gun pointed at his head.

“Think, _think_ ,” he muttered. His hands were no longer cuffed, courtesy of Sae, so if it came down to it he’d be able to put up a fight. Syringes still littered the floor so he could always hope there was something left in them, as whatever they’d given him had done a number on him.

He knew deep down it was all pointless, that if Goro actually found him it would be too late. Akira had a feeling his leg was broken, and several ribs were at least bruised if the pain he felt just when breathing was anything to go by. He knew he wouldn’t be able to put up any kind of fight.

But it was all he had going for him, so he indulged himself for a bit.

Especially when it was the only thing that kept his mind off of everything else that had happened only a few hours earlier.

* * *

His mind was blank as he walked down the corridor, the lights dim and every noise echoing far louder than it should. He forced himself to keep walking no matter what. No matter what Sae-san said to him. No matter what the guard thought of a high schooler being there. No matter what his own thoughts on the matter were. He was there for a reason and he was going to carry out his task, no matter the cost. He was already a killer, as far as the media and Shido were concerned. Killing someone in the real world wasn’t so different from causing a shutdown that made someone walk into traffic.

His hands shook and he shoved them in his pockets. There was no room for mistakes. Not today. Not with this target.

He reached the end of the hall and found the guard posted out front. He summoned a sickeningly sweet smile and hoped it didn’t look half as fake as it felt.

“May I ask that you accompany me? Going in unarmed to interrogate a murderer makes me uncomfortable…”

The man gave him a once over before nodding and unlocking the door. Goro felt his act slip as the smell of blood and chemicals filled the air.

There was no turning back.

He forced himself to look past Kurusu, beaten and bloody and looking as though he didn’t understand what was going on, and instead lunged for the gun on the guard’s belt. He had the safety off in an instant and fired a quick shot into the man’s chest with only a slight tremor to his hands. Then he turned back to the boy.

Goro knew what had been planned, of course. That didn’t make it any easier to look Kurusu in the eye and take in all of the bruises, or the syringes or blood on the floor.

_He looks… god, he looks like I do after a trip to Mementos_ , he realized.

No. He couldn’t get sentimental. He had a job to do.

He leveled the gun at the boy’s head and rested his finger on the trigger. “This is your own fault, you know. If you would’ve just kept your head down when that teacher was abusing students… or when that shut-in _freak_ reached out to you… or when we first swapped… you wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.”

Kurusu’s gaze was fixed on the barrel inches from his skull. Goro pressed it into his hair and watched as his eyes somehow went wider.

“No witty banter for me? No inspiring speech about how I don’t have to do this? That there’s always another choice? _Nothing?_ ”

He was met with silence and his lips curled back in a sneer.

“I should’ve known it was all just for show. That when it comes down to it, even the great leader of the Phantom Thieves only cares about his own well-being.”

Goro didn’t understand why he was taunting him. He had Kurusu where he needed him. He had the gun pressed against his head! _Why wasn’t he pulling the trigger?_

He thought he saw Kurusu trembling. Gone was the infuriating self-assuredness and bravado Goro had gotten used to over the past two months. All that was left was fear, and he remembered Kurusu was only sixteen. A child. Nothing more than a scared child.

Bile rose in his throat and he swallowed it back down, along with his feelings. None of it mattered. Not that he’d spent the last two months learning about this boy. Not that he knew how much it would destroy his friends. Not that he’d almost considered him a friend, before he was reminded that he wasn’t _allowed_ such luxuries. Not after everything he’d done.

“I… I _have_ to do this.” He didn’t know who he was trying to convince. “You’re just someone who got in my way, nothing more than that. We were never _friends_. We weren’t even teammates. We were just using each other, and now I don’t have a use for you any longer. So… why? Why can’t I kill you?” he asked, his voice cracking.

He slowly lowered the gun but Kurusu’s expression didn’t change.

_“Say something, dammit!”_

He was amazed he hadn’t gotten the call from Shido yet. He knew he was out of time, and that he needed to get out before someone came to check on Kurusu.

He swallowed thickly and raised the weapon again, his hand shaking. “This is your fault, not mine.”

He needed to pull the trigger and get it over with. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t just _pull the trigger and get it over with_. He’d done it plenty of times in the metaverse, when calling upon Loki took too much out of him. It was supposed to be no different. He was a professional hitman for one of the most powerful men in Japan. He couldn’t afford to fail, or he’d be the next name reported in the news.

_So why couldn’t he just do it? What was stopping him?_

A scream tore itself from his throat and he squeezed his eyes shut as he pulled the trigger. The smell hit him immediately and he resisted the urge to vomit. He watched as trails of crimson dripped down Kurusu’s face and he swayed for a moment. Those sharp grey eyes grew unfocused and his body fell forward, blood and brain matter splattering on the table.

He removed the silencer and shoved it in his blazer before practically throwing the gun to the table. He was going to be sick if he stayed any longer.

“It’s your fault,” he whispered as he rushed out of the room.

He barely checked to make sure he was alone before falling to his knees in the hall. His breath came in hiccuping gasps and he still felt as though he were going to be sick.

_Get up. You need to report this._

His body wouldn’t move.

_Get up. Before someone finds you like this._

He’d shot Kurusu.

_Get up. Or else you never will._

He’d _killed_ Kurusu.

_**Get up.** _

He dragged himself to his feet, straightening his tie, fixing his hair, and brushing the dust off of his gloves. He was still Goro Akechi, the second coming of the Detective Prince, and his job wasn’t complete yet.

His phone was still going off by the time he pulled himself together again, and he took a deep breath before answering.

_“Well?”_

“Shido-san, my job is complete.”

_“I’ve told you not to call me by name.”_

“A-Ah, my apologies.”

_“Regardless, all that’s left is to deal with the remnants.”_

“The continued deaths of these teenagers would be a bit much, wouldn’t it?” He couldn’t stomach the thought of killing the rest of them. Unlike enacting shutdowns, he had a feeling killing in the real world wouldn’t get easier the more he did it.

_“Then what do you suggest?”_

He fought back another wave of nausea. “It would be best to have each of them meet with an unfortunate accident once the storm blows over.”

_“Is there any possibility they’ll want to avenge their leader?”_

_Almost certainly._ “No, they’re nothing but cattle anyway… They have no backbone without his guidance. I will keep my eye on them just in case though.”

_“I’ll be counting on you. Make sure to kill that strange cat once you find it as well.”_

“...Understood, though I doubt there’s anything to worry about. It’s merely a cat, after all. More importantly, they should be dealing with the suicide soon. Things will become quite busy once word gets out… I’ll need to prepare my comments on the matter.”

_“I must be prepared to deal with it on my end as well. I’ll let you get back to your work. You have exams next month, don’t you? We wouldn’t want your status as an honor student to be at risk.”_

The call ended and he sat down, putting his head between his knees and willing the nausea to go away. It was only then that he realized there were tears streaming down his cheeks. He was… crying. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried. He’d learned early on that tears were useless and conveyed nothing but weakness, and he wasn’t _weak_.

So why was he crying? Over Kurusu? Or something else?

Goro knew he needed to get up, to get out of there before someone found him. After all, he still had school the next day.

* * *

Akira watched as the door slowly swung open and he was immediately on high alert, his heart racing and every part of him telling him to run. After all of their planning--

Goro entered after a guard and didn’t even hesitate before grabbing the gun off his belt, firing a quick shot. The man fell and Akira flinched as he heard him choke before slowly going silent. Then the gun was turned towards him.

“Goro, wait--”

He pulled the trigger.

Akira’s head snapped up and a scream clawed its way out of his throat. It had been a nightmare. He was alive. The plan had worked.

A chill still ran up his spine, and somehow he knew the boy had gone through with it in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and thus a tipping point is reached
> 
> welcome to 'oh you thought this was going to be a happy/funny fic? do you even know me?' i hope you enjoy the rest of your stay as it only gets worse


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> November 21st  
> The case involving the leader of the Phantom Thieves is publicly announced a suicide. Akira Kurusu begins playing dead.

Akira knew they had less than a week before Goro found out about their trick, if the past three months of swapping were any kind of pattern to go by.

“I was at least hoping for more than twenty four hours,” he muttered as he woke up to an all too familiar apartment.

It took him a minute to realize Goro’s phone was going off, and he was going to just ignore it until he realized he knew the number. It was where the list of names had come from.

He hit Accept with shaky hands.

_“You’d better have a damn good reason as to why you’re not in my office right now.”_

His throat went dry. No alarm had gone off, and Goro was always _perfect_ when it came to his alarms. It wasn’t possible that the boy had forgotten. So why hadn’t he been woken up, if whoever was on the other end of the call was so important?

_“I’m going to take your silence as meaning you’re on your way, and not that you don’t have a reason. Be here within ten minutes or don’t show up at all.”_

The call ended and Akira’s breath came in gasps. The voice felt so familiar but he couldn’t place it. He immediately started typing out a message to Goro before he froze.

While he knew their friendship had been built on deception from the very beginning, he’d hoped they’d be able to work past that and maybe even convince Goro to stay with them instead of whoever he was working for. Instead Akira had gotten a bullet to the brain. It was clear he couldn’t rely on the boy anymore, no matter the circumstances.

He copied the message and sent it to someone else, and got a reply almost instantly.

Tech Master >:3  
  
oh shit akechis in ur body isnt he  
  
okay we can work with this  
  
what do you need me to do? keep an eye on him?  
  
maybe we should tell the others, its gonna be hard to keep up the act like this  
  
right now i just need you to find out where this call came from  
  
like within the next ten minutes  
  
what why  
  
whoever this number belongs to is the one ordering the shutdowns and goro was supposed to meet with him this morning  
  
oh shit  
  
uh okay gimme a few minutes  
  


The messages stopped and he got ready for the day in record time, covering up dark circles and blemishes, fixing his hair, and struggling with his tie. Akira wasn’t sure who this man was, but it was clear he was powerful and important if he could order mental shutdowns and assassinations and have them fulfilled within hours. He was fairly certain Goro would make another attempt on his life if he screwed up this meeting.

He was six minutes into his ten minute limit when the phone buzzed again and he practically pounced on it.

Tech Master >:3  
  
the phone is registered under a mr yori matsuo, which is a fake name if ive ever heard one  
  
but you want the location right?  
  
[Attachment: 1 Image]  
  
futaba you may have just saved me from being shot again  
  
ill think up what i want my reward to be later  
  
yknow what you deserve it  
  
wait really i was kidding  
  
akira do you mean it  
  


He shoved the phone in his pocket and took the stairs three at a time, not bothering to wait for the elevator. The man hadn’t sounded like he’d been joking and Akira didn’t want to find out what the punishment was for disobedience. Especially when he had a feeling it was _his_ name reported in the news--or rather, Goro’s.

He hit the street and hailed a taxi, the cost the last thing on his mind.

“How quickly can you get me to Nagatacho?” he demanded.

“How much are you paying?”

“Name your price.”

The man gave him an almost sinister grin. “You might want to hold on.”

* * *

Goro wasn’t expecting his feelings to be magically resolved upon waking up the next morning. He also wasn’t expecting to wake up in Café Leblanc. Or more accurately, the attic _above_ the café.

His first thought upon being met with the dust in the air and persistent smell of coffee was that it was a nightmare. A new one, to be sure, but it made sense. He’d killed Kurusu the day before, of course his brain wanted to remind him of the life he’d stolen him from.

Except… it wasn’t like the usual nightmares. He didn’t feel as though he were watching from the outside, or reliving a particular moment again. He tried to sit up and was instead met with a sharp pain that ran up his side, and a gasp escaped him.

_No--_

“Hey, you’re awake!” came a familiar voice. “Don’t try to get up. Do you want me to have Boss bring up your meds, or do you want to sleep some more?”

His vision swam as he took in the cat giving him a look and he put a hand out to steady himself. It had to be some kind of nightmare. Kurusu was _dead. He’d shot him._

“You don’t have to answer me but at least nod or shake your head, okay?”

“I’m going to be sick,” he mumbled, and slid out of bed. As soon as he put weight on his leg it gave out beneath him and he hit the floor.

Morgana jumped down, his fur standing on end. “Hey, I told you not to get up! You’re not nearly recovered!”

He knew that he needed to get up but found himself too weak. The lights seemed so bright and he squeezed his eyes shut to no avail. Just the act of breathing hurt. His stomach still churned and he gagged. Everything was too much.

“Akira!”

The voice grated at him and he couldn’t even cover his mouth before he found himself retching, vomiting all over himself.

 _“Guys!”_ came a voice from somewhere to his left. He didn’t know what was going on.

There was a sudden thundering as people raced up the stairs and he flinched as voices filled the air.

_“Holy shit--”_

“Mona, what happened--?!”

“Should we get him back in bed--?”

“Nobody touch him--”

He wanted everyone to _shut up, he wanted it to stop._

There was a hand on his shoulder and he dry heaved, coughing and choking on whatever was left in his mouth.

“Akira, can you look at me?” a sickly sweet voice asked. “Just look at me, that’s all I’m asking.”

“Ann, don’t touch him. We don’t know if this is because of what happened yesterday--”

“We can’t just leave him on the floor like this! Ryuji, Yusuke, help me at least get him back on the bed--”

More hands grabbed at him and he was vaguely aware he was kicking and screaming. He wanted them to _leave him alone._

“Clearly it’s just making things worse!”

 _“Akira!”_ someone snapped. “Please just _calm down_ , we’re trying to help you!”

 _“Don’t touch me!”_ he shrieked. _“Don’t fucking touch me!”_

There was the sound of more footsteps and everyone froze. Goro lashed out and kicked whoever was closest to him, he wasn’t sure.

“Everybody downstairs!” came a new voice.

“Boss--!”

_“Now.”_

Slowly things quieted down and he realized he was hyperventilating.

“Futaba--” came a warning voice.

“Let me stay,” she pleaded. “I’ve dealt with panic attacks, I can help him calm down a bit!”

He sighed. “Fine, but… be careful. I saw how he kicked Sakamoto.”

She nodded and turned back to Goro, who was still gasping for breath.

“Hey, breathe. In for four, hold it for seven, out for eight.”

He tried to do as she said but he kept coughing.

“Akechi, look at me.”

That was enough to tear him from his panicked daze. “You--”

_“Breathe.”_

Slowly his heart stopped racing and he took in everything around him. He realized he was covered in his own vomit and it was almost enough to make him start retching again.

“Are you… better now?”

“How?” he demanded, his voice cracking. “How did you--?”

“It was… something you said. But the others didn’t pick up on it, don’t worry. Me and Akira are still the only ones who know.”

His head pounded, and all of his injuries throbbed as the adrenaline faded away. “...What now?”

She scowled, any trace of her caring attitude from a minute ago gone. “You killed Wakaba Isshiki, didn’t you?”

He knew there was no point in hiding it. Not in his current state, when even she could overpower him if she truly wanted to. “What of it? I was ordered to, and I always complete my orders.”

“Well, not _always_ ,” she muttered. “Since you failed. Obviously.”

So Kurusu was still alive, just as he’d feared. “How’d you do it?”

“As if I’d tell you,” she scoffed. “The boy who murdered my mother and tried to do the same to my best friend.”

“I was _ordered to_ , it wasn’t as though I wanted to--!” He clamped his jaw shut.

“I don’t care what your reasons are. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re a murderer, and if I had even a _shred_ of sympathy for you it’s gone now. I’m not going to kick you to the streets or anything, because you’re still in Akira’s body and he’s hurt because of _your_ boss, but I’m going to make your life from here on out a living hell. You’ve made an enemy of Alibaba and you’ll see just what I’m capable of. So watch your back,” she spat.

He swallowed thickly.

“I’m telling everyone you’re in no shape to meet with them today. Enjoy being trapped here for the day, since the media thinks you’re _dead_ and all.”

“Wait--”

She turned back to him with a gaze that could almost petrify.

“Can I at least clean myself up? There’s a bathhouse right across the street--”

“You can’t risk being seen, remember? Just sit there and think about why this happened in the first place.”

Then she was gone and he was left alone. He could hear voices from the café below, and he realized the truth of her words. Akira Kurusu was a dead man, as far as the media was concerned. And judging by the stories he’d been told and the looks he’d gotten firsthand when walking around Yongen, Kurusu had made it a point to know everyone he could. It would be impossible to sneak out of the café, even without a broken leg.

He spotted Kurusu’s phone on the desk and cursed under his breath. _They did this on purpose, didn’t they? I’ll show them…_

He grit his teeth and dragged himself to his feet, taking a few unsteady steps. Pain wracked his body but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Not when the prize at stake was his only connection to the world outside the shop at the moment.

He reached the device and all but collapsed in the chair.

He dialed the number he was all too familiar with and scowled as it went to voicemail. Was Kurusu _ignoring him?_ Or was he simply too late?

Detective Boy  
  
Urgent. Message me back as soon as you can.  
  


The screen changed almost immediately and he breathed a sigh of relief. There was still time to warn him.

Detective Boy  
  
Urgent. Message me back as soon as you can.  
  
**Read** 11:03 AM

...Oh, he was going to kill Kurusu when he got the chance.

* * *

_Okay, according to Futaba’s findings the office is in the left wing… but she couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, or even the floor._

“Akechi-kun!”

He whipped around as someone clapped a hand to his shoulder and resisted the urge to take a swing at the stranger. He was right across from the Diet Building, he couldn’t afford to get Goro arrested for assaulting a politician. Instead he tried to mask his initial shock and put on the smile he’d practiced.

“Here for another meeting, hmm? Seems like Shido-san is working you awfully hard… You’re still a student, aren’t you?”

 _Shido-san._ “Ah, it’s no trouble,” he said with a laugh. “I’m happy to do the work.”

“Well, I won’t keep you waiting. Don’t tell him I was the one that made you late! Especially if you’re going to take all those stairs up to the fifth floor.”

_It’s true what Goro said, people run their mouths as though none of what they say could have any consequences. Here I am, an imposter among them, and they’ve unintentionally told me exactly where I need to go._

He would’ve laughed at it if he weren’t in such a situation, and instead just started for the stairs. From there it was easy to find the right office and he hesitated before knocking on the door. “It’s me, Akechi,” he said, and then immediately cursed himself. He was going to wound up shot again if he was careless with this man.

“Enter,” came a voice.

 _It’s showtime_ , he thought dryly. Time seemed to slow as he took in the scene in front of him. The gaudy office, the man at the desk, and the papers in front of him. “Is that… the death certificate of the Phantom Thief?” he asked, desperate to start any kind of conversation. He knew nothing about the man and needed to gauge how to react.

“I believe you have bigger things to be worrying about. Perhaps you could start with why you’re late? Or why you bothered to show up at all, since it’s clearly past the ten minutes I gave you?”

He glanced around. There had to be _something_ he could use as a distraction, or… He had no idea what he was doing. Akira knew he couldn’t talk his way out of a situation he didn’t understand.

The man--Shido, was it?--seemed to grow bored of waiting for an answer. “I heard from a good friend of mine that the cause of death for the SIU director has been declared a stroke. He worked very hard forging evidence for us, I’ll have to take my time choosing a successor after the election.”

 _Election…?_ The realization hit him like a ton of bricks and he stiffened. The man sitting in front of him was Masayoshi Shido, the candidate everyone was sure would become the next Prime Minister. _This is the man running the show behind the mental shutdowns? He’d certainly have the power and authority… How can the Thieves face someone like this?_

“--istening to me?”

He was torn from his thoughts and swallowed thickly as Shido glared at him. “Do you not find this interesting, Goro? Do you have something better to do, and that’s why you nearly didn’t show up this morning?”

“N-No, sir.” He still felt as though there were more to the situation, like he was missing something. Like he _knew_ Shido somehow, and not just from his TV appearances.

“I was recounting our history. Can you believe it’s been two and a half years since we met?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you remember how it happened?”

“Why did you call me in this morning?” he asked, trying to steer the topic away from the past and things he didn’t know.

“I’d gotten wrapped up in a scandal when you came forward. You promoted yourself, saying you had ‘special powers’. If it wasn’t for the research on cognition that I dabbled in, I would have thought you insane. But then you made those men suffer shutdowns and offered your… _talents_ towards my cause. I was sure there’d be some kind of ulterior motive. In all honesty, I’m still waiting for you to try to turn on me.”

“...Try, sir?”

“You know what I’m capable of. You know what would happen if you even thought of speaking out or going behind my back. That should be incentive enough to stay in line for a bit longer. You wouldn’t want to end up like that researcher, now would you?”

He didn’t trust himself to speak without giving himself away so he shook his head slowly.

Shido seemed to look him over. “You’re quiet today, Goro. Is there something on your mind?”

“No, it’s nothing,” he said quietly.

“But there is something?”

He was an _idiot_. How many impromptu lessons had Goro given him on answering questions for interviews? Talking to Shido certainly felt like one, like he was putting on an act and one wrong answer could ruin his career. And he’d managed to go and talk himself into a corner.

“Why did you call me in?” he asked again. “A new assignment? Or something else?”

“Am I not allowed to just catch up with you or congratulate you on your latest victory?”

Somehow he didn’t think that Masayoshi Shido was the type of man to do so. “It’s true that I have other things to do today. I don’t mean to rush you, but I’m still a student so if there was no point to this meeting--”

“I must say, I prefer it when you drop that little act of yours. I called you here to let you know that the government parties have begun to split, and are dissolving just as planned. Just a little more and I will take the seat of prime minister. And when that time comes I will grant whatever wish you want. Consider it a reward for progressing my plans so smoothly for me.”

Akira’s voice failed him.

“There’s no need to give me your answer now. There’s still lots of work to be done, especially regarding the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Have you thought of what sort of _unfortunate accident_ will befall any of them? The damn brats,” he muttered.

Bile rose in his throat. _“Ihavetoleaverightnowsorry,”_ he said, and rushed out of the room before Shido could even understand what he said, let alone try to stop him. He didn’t stop running until he reached the station and locked himself in a bathroom stall. All he could hear was his heartbeat in his ears and he realized he was gasping for breath.

Of course things wouldn’t end with his death. Of course his friends would be targeted. Of course Goro would be chosen for the task. But there was so much more to the situation than he’d thought…

_The damn brats…_

_Damn brat, I’ll sue!_

His head ached as the pieces slipped into place. Masayoshi Shido was more than just a target to the Phantom Thieves, No, he was the one who’d gotten him sent to Tokyo in the first place.

How were they supposed to face a man who had everyone from the police to the public on his side? Who could sweep crimes aside as though they never occurred? Who was probably going to be the next Prime Minister?

* * *

He wasn’t entirely sure what he was planning. All he knew was that if he stayed in Leblanc’s attic any longer he was going to go insane. Spending a normal day as Akira Kurusu was hard enough, but with a broken leg and strict orders not to leave the room it had become unbearable.

As soon as Sakura-san had stepped out for cigarettes he’d gone rummaging behind the counter for whatever medications had been prescribed to Kurusu and found a stash of painkillers that nearly rivaled what was back in his own apartment.

 _I suppose being drugged and tortured warrants some heavy duty recovery_ , he thought sourly.

The pills went down easy after nearly three years of practice and before long the pain in his leg was little more than a dull ache. He knew he didn’t have long until Sakura-san came back and he needed to be halfway across the city by the time that happened, so he grabbed one of the bottles and set off for the station at a brisk limp.

Almost out of instinct he found himself taking the train towards his apartment.

“I suppose if he’s there I could finish the job,” he muttered, earning him a look from another passenger. It was so ridiculous he couldn’t help but laugh to himself.

Except… the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

The strange swapping phenomenon never lasted longer than a day, and he was already taking one of the last trains. He still wasn’t sure _how_ it worked, but surely if he kept Kurusu at his apartment until the date rolled over they’d swap back and he could… Grill him for information? Threaten him? Kill him?

Well, he’d burn that bridge when he got to it.

* * *

His thoughts were still racing when he got back to the apartment and he threw the gloves on the table, not even bothering with the blazer or tie before he started digging through the fridge. He needed a distraction and only knew of one way that was sure to calm him down.

He was in the middle of cooking the chicken when the phone rang, and he hesitated a moment before picking up. He didn’t even get to say anything before someone was speaking a mile a minute.

“Hold on-- wait, Futaba? Slow down, tell me what happened.”

The girl took a shuddering breath. _“Akechi’s gone.”_

“What do you mean _gone_?”

_“Gone. Left the café. I stopped by to keep an eye on him and ask him a few questions and the attic was empty. He left your phone behind so I can’t track him.”_

“And you’re sure he didn’t just… go to the bathroom or something? He’d have a _broken leg_ in my body, among other injuries.”

_“Your pills are gone. Most of them, anyway. He must’ve taken them. He kind of… had a breakdown earlier. When he first woke up and realized you must be alive because he was in your body.”_

“You talked to him, right? Did he say anything that might be some kind of hint as to where he went? I can’t imagine he got far in that state, even if he was on painkillers.”

_“I mean he asked to go to the bathhouse, but that was it. He… He admitted to killing my mom and I just got so angry, I didn’t want to hear anything else he had to say. I shouldn’t have let my anger get the best of me like that--”_

He winced. “Don’t talk like that, none of this is your fault. I’m surprised you didn’t deck him for telling you something like that.”

 _“I wanted to,”_ she admitted. _“But it was your body, and I didn’t want to make things worse.”_

“So he didn’t say anything?”

_“I don’t think so. Sorry…”_

“No, it’s not your fault. We’ll just have to think of where he might have gone.”

_“Mementos? He could easily make it to Shibuya if he just reached the station. Can you even summon your persona when you’re swapped like this?”_

“We tested it, but I don’t think he’d go there. There’s no way he’d be able to fight with those kinds of injuries. Do you think he’d come after me?”

_“To… finish the job, you mean?”_

He was lost in thought when he smelled smoke and glanced at the stove. “Oh _shit_ my curry--!”

The girl laughed. _“Is that the only thing you know how to make?”_

He didn’t bother retorting that she couldn’t cook _anything_. He was wrapped up in salvaging his meal when he heard the front door swing open. He was positive he’d locked it when he got back, and he slowly reached for a knife.

There was the sound of uneven footsteps behind him and he waited a few seconds before whipping around, the blade only a few inches from the intruder’s chest.

“That’s not a very nice way to greet someone coming back to their own apartment,” Goro said with a frown.

His breath caught as he stared at the body in front of him. While it was always strange to see Goro walking around and hearing his own voice mixed with the boy’s mannerisms, the previous times were nothing compared to then. He’d been hardly lucid when Sae had brought him back to Leblanc the night before and he’d slept fitfully. Then he’d woken up as Goro. He hadn’t gotten a chance to look at himself, aside from the obvious bruises and cuts on his wrists from the cuffs. But it was so much worse than that… A bandage covered most of his cheek but he could still see scrapes along on the edges, and the other side of his face was a mess of black and blue. There was a particularly nasty cut under his eye and he instinctively touched his own face. He swallowed thickly, unwilling to think about what his winter coat hid underneath. Akira already knew his leg was broken from what Futaba had told him. His memories were hazy after entering the palace, but if he focused he could remember fingers curled in his hair and hands holding him down as they injected him with _something_.

His hands shook as he held the knife and Goro studied him for a moment before pushing it aside as though it didn’t concern him. He limped towards the bedroom and Akira followed, his curry forgotten.

He had so many questions and couldn’t seem to ask any of them as he watched the boy rummage through his closet for something.

“How did you-- Why are you-- What--”

“Don’t strain yourself,” he said without turning around. “I know you’re not used to having a mind like that. Especially after being around your friends and their collective two brain cells.”

 _“Goro,”_ he said sharply.

He seemed to find what he was looking for and turned to him. Akira took a step back as he realized it was a gun in his hand. “How many times do I have to tell you not to use my name?”

“What are you doing? Why are you here? God, how did you even get out of Leblanc like that?”

“Do you want me to answer those in order? I’m here to finish the job, I’m here to finish the job, and your caretaker is woefully incompetent so I snuck out. Let’s take this elsewhere, I don’t want to get blood on the carpet.”

His eyes never left the gun as he backed out of the room. “I met with Shido today,” he said suddenly.

Goro’s pleasant smile disappeared in an instant and was replaced by a twisted scowl. “What did you do?”

“He called me this morning and it sounded like there was a meeting you were supposed to go to, so I went.”

“How did you know where to go?” he demanded.

“Futaba traced the location of the call.”

“And what did you talk about?”

“He said everything was going according to plan, and soon he would be Prime Minister.”

“And?” he asked, taking a step forward. “He’s not the kind of man to call upon me without reason.”

“He… He wanted to know if you’d come up with what kind of accident would befall the rest of the Phantom Thieves.”

 _“And?”_ he demanded, pressing the barrel against Akira’s chest.

“He said once he became Prime Minister he’d grant whatever wish you wanted,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut. “That was everything, I swear!”

Goro slowly lowered the gun. “So he’s finally come to recognize my worth, has he? And what did you tell him?”

“Nothing. He said you could give him your answer later.”

“At least you’re not a _complete_ imbecile,” he muttered.

Akira realized he was still holding the kitchen knife and raised it again, thankful for Goro’s nerves of steel that his hands weren’t shaking.

The other boy just rolled his eyes and raised the gun. “I could shoot you in the head before you took two steps. Just drop it and tell me what I want to know.”

“And you’ll let me live?”

“Of course not,” he scoffed. “But I’ll be sure to kill you quickly. Refuse, and I’ll make you suffer in a way that’ll make that interrogation room seem positively inviting.”

He had a feeling he wasn’t bluffing and tossed the knife to the side. Goro took a few labored breaths and Akira realized he was favoring his one leg. The painkillers must have been wearing off.

“You are going to explain to me _exactly_ what happened yesterday, and why you’re still alive.”

“And if I don’t? If I’m going to die either way, I won’t tell you anything.”

The boy took another step forward and Akira backed up, and he realized he could feel the heat of the stove. Then cold metal pressed against his skull and his act failed him.

“This feels familiar,” Goro said casually, as if he weren’t holding a gun to his head.

“We don’t know what will happen if one of us dies in the other’s body,” he said. “For all we know you could be stuck as me forever. Is that a risk you’re willing to take?”

“If Shido finds out I failed to kill you, I’m as good as dead. What’s the difference if I die as myself or trapped as you?”

Akira swallowed thickly. He didn’t want to take any risks when he still wasn’t sure if the boy was being serious or not.

“No witty banter for me?” he asked. “No inspiring speech about how I don’t have to do this? That there’s always another choice? _Nothing_?”

On the other hand, Akira had always been known for his impulsiveness rather than his common sense. “You haven’t shot me yet because you don’t want to do this,” he said quietly. “Put the gun down and we can figure out a solution that doesn’t involve one of us dying. The Phantom Thieves could change Shido’s heart and--”

He gave a sharp bark of laughter. “You have no idea what that man is capable of. You think you can change his heart just because you got lucky with Madarame and Niijima? Shido has men under his control that understand cognition better than the two of us put together. He’d ambush you and your little band of misfits the instant you set foot in his palace, if you could figure out his keywords at all.”

“Does that mean you know them?”

He hesitated. “There’s no point in confirming my suspicions. Not when entering his palace is a death wish in itself.”

Akira tried to step forward but Goro just pressed the gun harder against his head. “With our combined knowledge maybe we could stand a chance,” he said, his hands raised in submission.

“If you’re so set on playing right into his hands and getting you and your friends killed, I might as well save you the trouble and do it now.”

“Then why haven’t you? Because you _can’t_ , Goro.” He slowly pushed the barrel away from his face but the boy just moved it back.

Any shred of his act that remained seemed to disappear as he laughed. “Are you actually taunting the guy with a gun against your temple? Are you that much of a bleeding heart that you think I won’t kill you because I’ve let you talk for this long?”

He knew Goro was bluffing. He had to be. “Then prove me wrong.”

“Gladly.”

The barrel shifted away from his head and instead was aimed at his chest.

_Oh, he wasn’t._

Goro’s expression was unreadable behind the glasses, and Akira watched as his finger lingered on the trigger.

“Wait--”

Then the shot rang out and all he could focus on was the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kimichan did an absolutely phenominal job on the commission, please go show her some love [here](https://twitter.com/kimichan_art?s=20)!
> 
>  _coughs_  
>  if you made it this far, congratulations! now you see why i've been screaming for two months :3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> November 22nd  
> The Phantom Thieves begin looking for Shido's keywords

Goro didn’t know where he was when he came to. He immediately noticed the bare white walls and the pain in his arm, and bolted upright.

_Not the hospital, I can’t be here--!_

Then he slowly took in everything around him, the pristine bookshelves and the distinct lack of beeping machines, and relaxed as he realized he was in his apartment. He tried to blink away the haze to little avail and noticed that his arm was wrapped sloppily in bandages. He could see blood staining the outer layer, although it looked dried.

There was a note on the coffee table and he strained to grab it.

_When I woke up we were swapped back and you were bleeding out. This happens to you a lot, doesn’t it? I cleaned the wound but didn’t want to touch the bullet. I also tried to wake you up but you were out cold. You should really go to a hospital, but I understand if you can’t. I’m at least leaving you the information for my doctor. If you mention you’re with me she might judge but she won’t ask any questions. Text me later. We need to talk about this._  
_\- Akira_

There was a name and phone number scrawled underneath and his lips curled back in a sneer. Of course Kurusu, ever the bleeding heart, had been the one to fix him up. Even after Goro had shot him in the arm. After trying to shoot him in the head. For the second time.

His phone buzzed in the pocket of his blazer, strung over the back of the couch, and he chose to ignore it. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with Kurusu or Shido, consequences be damned.

His head still ached and he was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but knew he needed to get up or he wouldn’t be able to drag himself off the couch later.

The contents of Kurusu’s note were concerning, that he hadn’t been able to wake him. Was he truly at such a point that his body refused to rouse?

_I’m sure it was just the blood loss combined with the exhaustion. I’ll eat something and clean myself up and everything will be fine again._

He tried to push himself up off the couch and fell back as his arm gave out without warning.

So maybe training himself to almost exclusively use his right hand hadn’t been the smartest idea. “Well, I’m not going to let something like a _bullet wound_ get the best of me,” he muttered. “It’s not even the worst I’ve suffered.”

He dragged himself to the kitchen and opened the fridge to find another tupperware of curry with yesterday’s date scribbled on it.

_Of course._

Goro was going to have to have a conversation with Kurusu about spending his money on food he didn’t even eat.

His arm twinged with pain again and he gave a muffled curse. It was clear he was going to have to look at it before anything else.

He grabbed everything from the bathroom and spread it out on the table before removing his shirt-- _that’s another ruined one,_ he thought miserably--and unwinding the bandage.

“Oh, this is _ridiculous_ ,” he said to no one in particular. Kurusu had done well enough in cleaning the area and while he could see into his arm more than he would’ve liked, he’d suffered considerably worse at the hands of Shadows.

He couldn’t see the bullet but Kurusu’s note had said he hadn’t touched it, so he was inclined to believe it was buried among the muscle.

Goro was no stranger to bullet wounds. He’d been shot before, although Shido had had him patched up by his private doctor at the time. The man couldn’t afford to have his favorite hitman out of commission for longer than necessary when there were mental shutdowns to enact.

He knew from those visits and some research of his own that as long as it wasn’t buried in the joint or among any vital organs, he’d be fine. His body would build up tissue around it and go on as though nothing had happened. The hard part was just waiting.

His phone rang again and he dug it out of the coat with a scowl.

Shido.

He hit _Decline_ and opened his messages instead. Surprisingly, there was no word from Kurusu. It appeared he was going to wait for Goro to contact him like he’d said. He didn’t particularly want to open that can of worms, so he closed the app instead. The boy seemed to thrive on drama. He was going to make him wait awhile.

* * *

Akira knew he was in trouble. As far as Sojiro was concerned, he’d snuck out of the café and disappeared without a word. He had no way of explaining his actions without giving away his and Akechi’s position. Or at least not without further destroying Sojiro’s trust and earning himself an extended period of house arrest.

He briefly wondered when he’d stopped thinking of the boy as Goro.

_“Yongen-Jaya, this is Yongen-Jaya. Please exit using the doors to the left.”_

He was glad he’d boarded one of the first trains, as there was only one other person in the car with him. The man looked as though he’d just gotten off of the graveyard shift with the way he was slumped in his seat and he didn’t even look over as Akira dragged himself to his feet and limped his way to the platform.

The walk back to Leblanc had never felt longer and he found that all he could do was grit his teeth as every step sent pain shooting up his leg. Even as the man running the second-hand shop tried to talk about his latest wares, the way he always did when he saw Akira, he kept his head down. He just needed to reach the shop. Then he could grab his medication and endure Sojiro’s meltdown.

_My meds. Futaba said Akechi had grabbed them and that’s how he made it halfway across the city with a broken leg. That means… Oh, Tae is gonna kill me._

He finally spotted the familiar red and white awning and picked up his pace, ignoring his body’s protests. There he hesitated, one hand reaching for the door.

_I still don’t have an excuse. Maybe I could crash at Ann’s or something? I’d feel bad leaving Sojiro, but I could call him or something… I’m just not in the mood to deal with that mess._

He was going to just go back to the station when the door swung open and he found himself facing the one man he’d been trying to avoid.

“...Akira?”

He rubbed at his neck and avoided meeting his gaze. “Hey, Sojiro…”

“What-- Why did you-- Do you have any idea how worried I was? Your phone was still here so I had no idea where you were or how to reach you! I went out for cigarettes and came back and you were just _gone_! I nearly called the police before Futaba reminded me why I couldn’t! And don’t even get me started on your friends, they were looking all over the city for you--”

“We probably shouldn’t do this out here,” he said quietly, and the man seemed to realize they were still outside.

“Get inside,” he said, his tone clipped.

Akira didn’t have to be told twice. He all but collapsed in a booth and just rested his cheek against the cool wood. He’d barely closed his eyes when something barrelled into him and he jolted up.

“You’d better have a good explanation as to why you suddenly disappeared like that!” Morgana said, his tail lashing.

He tried to hide his smile as he realized the cat was pressing against him and purring.

“I don’t know what came over me,” he said. “I just… felt like I had to get out at that moment, or I was going to go insane. I wasn’t thinking straight. And I know it’s not an excuse,” he said hurriedly. “But it’s still what was going through my head.”

Sojiro was leaning against the counter with a cigarette he looked like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to light or not. “I only caught the end of it, but the way you were acting when you first woke up… You weren’t yourself, that’s for sure.”

He remembered what Futaba had said, that Akechi had had some kind of breakdown once he realized he was still alive. “I don’t remember much of yesterday,” he admitted. “What happened?”

“I only came upstairs because I heard you yelling, but I watched you kick Sakamoto. Futaba and the rest of your friends know more about it than I do. It was like…” he shook his head. “Like you were possessed or something.”

“Does this mean you forgive me?” he asked hopefully.

“Not by a long shot,” he said with a snort. “But you’ll be making up for scaring me half to death once you’re healed up a bit. Your phone’s upstairs, we kept it plugged in in case you called or something. You should probably let everyone know you’re back. Do you… need help with the stairs, or anything?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, and forced himself to his feet. As soon as he put weight on his leg it gave out beneath him and he gripped the counter.

The man sighed. “Give me your arm.”

“It’s fine, really, I just wasn’t ready-- H-Hey!”

Sojiro had grabbed him like a sack of potatoes and started upstairs, Morgana trailing after him.

“You know, I wouldn’t be able to do this if you ate more.”

He kicked weakly with his good leg. “That’s not fair, even when I’m not busy I don’t want to eat your food when I haven’t paid for it.”

“Kid, you saved Futaba. I think that warrants some free curry. And it doesn’t even have to be _my_ food, but your friends tell me you barely eat with them either.”

“I go to Big Bang Burger sometimes--”

“The challenge doesn’t count,” Morgana chimed in. “You’ve gotten so sick off of those burgers it all comes back up anyway.”

He was silent as Sojiro helped him on the bed. Morgana curled up beside him and started purring again.

“Do you want to tell Futaba or should I?”

Akira didn’t want to admit that she almost certainly already knew he was back because of the bugs she’d planted in the café. “I’ll do it. And I’ll have to call the doctor about getting more painkillers…”

“Mmm, I won’t offer to do that for you. You screwed up, now you have to fix it.”

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in,” he muttered. _Not like it was really me anyway._

“Do you need anything before I open up shop?”

 _A Revivadrin for after Tae kills me for wasting her medicine like that._ “Nothing for now. I’ll let you know if I think of anything later.”

Sojiro lingered at the top of the stairs. “Don’t think you can sneak out again. You won’t make it down the street before I have you locked up here.”

“Don’t worry Chief, I’ll keep an eye on him!” Morgana said.

“I don’t think Mona would let me leave either.”

“Kid, I just…” His gaze lingered on the bandages and bruises marring his face and hands. “Never mind. Hurry up and call the doctor before you need those pills.”

Then he was gone and Akira flopped back, wincing at the wounds on his back. If he closed his eyes he could picture faceless men in suits and hear muted voices demanding things of him. The details, however, were gone.

“You’d better call Tae before you psych yourself out,” Morgana said without looking up, his tail thumping on the bed. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. I mean, you worked up enough courage to talk to Munehisa at the airsoft shop, didn’t you?”

“Munehisa won’t use me for target practice if I break one of his guns, he’ll just make me buy another one,” he muttered. He wanted nothing to do with Tae or her needles after what he’d just been through.

_No, she would never hurt me. I’m being irrational._

He still couldn’t stop his hands from shaking as he dialed the number for the clinic.

_Please don’t pick up, please don’t pick up, please don’t--_

The call connected and he swore under his breath.

_“Takemi Medical Clinic, this is Dr. Takemi speaking.”_

“H-Hey Tae, it’s me… About those pills you gave me a few days ago…”

* * *

He wasn’t particularly surprised to get the message from Shido. It had been awhile since any hits had been ordered and Goro knew it was only a matter of time. It just happened that the man had the worst sense of timing.

 _It wouldn’t surprise me if he had eyes on me and specifically chose to give me these assignments when I’m at my most vulnerable,_ he thought sourly as the train carried him towards Shibuya.

He did his best to ignore the blatant stares and kept his gaze forward as people began to whisper.

_None of it matters. They’ll all be begging for your approval once Shido is under your control._

_“Shibuya, this is Shibuya. Please exit using the doors to the left.”_

He didn’t have his briefcase or anything with him and just made his way up the stairs and to one of the vendors selling baked goods. He lingered in front of the display case before buying two katsu buns. He thought he heard a camera shutter go off and felt his smile waver as he knew he’d show up on someone’s social media.

_How easy it would be to ask them for their name and just deal with them now. I’m already going to Mementos, what’s one more target?_

He pushed down those feelings and forced his smile again as he took his change from the cashier. From there he swallowed down bile and insults as he made his way up to the Station Square. It was easy enough to find a secluded spot and he activated the Nav as nobody even gave him a second glance.

Goro shook his head to clear it as the distortion settled around him. Loki immediately buzzed at the back of his mind and he started down into the subway.

His targets went down easily, and other shadows proved no challenge for his persona or a well timed Megidolaon. It wasn’t until his magic began to run dry did he run into a problem.

He found himself facing down a Girimekhala, the same shadow that had torn a hole in his side and subsequently revealed his position to Kurusu a month earlier. A familiar rage boiled up within him and he grabbed for the sword on his belt, only for his arm to twinge in pain.

He’d nearly forgotten about the bullet.

“I am not about to let a goddamn _bullet wound_ get in my way!” he screamed, charging the demon. A barrier appeared as he tried to drive his weapon into its stomach and instead it bounced back and nearly plunged into his leg. A noise clawed its way out of his throat and he grabbed for his gun, nearly unloading the whole clip before he realized it was being reflected as well.

“Loki, Eigaon!”

It did nothing to the creature and he spat several curses. He hoped he had enough in him for one last magical attack.

With a shuddering breath, he reached for the other voice in his head.

_“Robin Hood, Kouga!”_

He felt as another chunk of his life force was gouged out as the persona materialized and the attack landed. The shadow finally went down and he studied it for a moment before driving his sword into its skull, still gasping for breath as it exploded in a cloud of dust.

Robin Hood disappeared immediately and he clutched at his head.

Goro knew he didn’t have it in him to tackle any of the other names, and just began the long trek towards the surface.

* * *

Akira knew he was dreaming. That didn’t make it any easier to deal with as the men approached. The one waved the clipboard he was holding in his face. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

When he didn’t get a response he set it down and Akira wondered what he was going to try next. What he _wasn’t_ expecting was for the man to punch him square in the face. He could barely hold back his cries as the blows continued, but he grit his teeth. He wasn’t signing anything. He needed to talk to Sae, and that was it.

He tried to shift away from them to no avail and the cuffs only dug into his wrists. At one point someone stepped on his leg and didn’t let up until a scream tore its way out of his throat.

The man signaled for the others to stop and Akira realized that the awful noise in the room was coming from _him_. He just needed to hold out until they gave up and he could talk to Sae.

“Are you going to sign the confession?” he asked. Akira summoned what strength he had left and spit on the man’s shoes. If he was going down, he’d at least go down swinging.

He flinched, awaiting a blow that never came. Instead the man snapped his fingers and one of the others produced a syringe out of nowhere.

“Wait, that’s… You can’t…!”

The two others grabbed him, the one curling fingers in his hair and pulling his head back until he was afraid something in his neck was going to break, while the other rolled up his sleeve and held his arm out. Akira cried out but had the sense not to move until they removed the needle. He tried to pull away but his strength was already spent.

The man studied him for a moment. “Give him another.”

“No… No--!”

Two doses of whatever it was made him lightheaded remarkably fast, and he tried to ask what they’d given him but his tongue just lay useless in his mouth. His vision began to dim as he suffered another kick, this one to the ribs, and tears streamed down his cheeks.

He woke up screaming. Morgana immediately jumped up, back arched and ears flat against his head, and was at his side in an instant. He grabbed the cat and held him close, his body still shaking.

His phone rang suddenly and he flinched. He answered without looking at the screen, expecting it to be Futaba checking in on him because her bugs had caught the aftermath of his nightmare.

_“Ah, Kurusu, I’m surprised you’re awake.”_

“Akechi…?”

The boy hummed, _“It seems you’ve finally stopped calling me by my name. I must say, it took you long enough.”_

“Why are you--?”

_“You wanted to talk about… everything, didn’t you?”_

“Isn’t it kind of late?” he asked with a shaky laugh.

_“You’re awake, aren’t you?”_

_Not exactly by choice_ , he thought.

_“Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts about all this. I didn’t want to call, you know. So you’d better make this worth my time and not just ask questions you already know the answers to.”_

His head still felt fuzzy from the dream. He could barely remember what had happened that morning or what Akechi was referring to.

_“Kurusu?”_

“Y-Yeah?” he asked, shooing Morgana away.

“You’re talking to _Akechi_?” he hissed, and Akira just shot him a look. He seemed to take the hint and started downstairs, although he didn’t look happy about it.

_“Are we going to talk about this or not? I’m already aware I have a bullet in my arm, so we don’t need to discuss that.”_

Oh… _Oh_. The remaining fog finally cleared and he remembered the evening before. He grabbed at his arm instinctively but there was no wound. Of course there wasn’t. Akechi may have been the one to fire the shot but he’d been in Akira’s body. He’d essentially shot himself.

_“You have ten seconds or I’m hanging up. Ten. Nine.”_

“Wait, wait! Sorry, I was just… nothing. I’m ready to talk.”

_“Then start talking. I have nothing to say to you.”_

He swallowed thickly. “You’re working for Masayoshi Shido.”

_“You already knew that.”_

“He has a palace,” he continued.

_“Don’t go down this path again, I already told you stepping foot in there is basically signing your own death warrant._

“The Phantom Thieves have already changed the hearts of several large scale targets, I’m sure with careful planning we could overcome this as well--”

 _“Shido’s the one who ordered the hit on Wakaba Isshiki,”_ Akechi said. _“It wasn’t someone with a grudge against her like those stupid politicians who called for the removal of the Minister of Transport. He wanted to make sure she couldn’t continue her research and use it against him, so he had her killed in order to steal it for himself.”_

“He had you kill her,” Akira said quietly.

 _“...Yes. He may never have been to the metaverse, but it’s no exaggeration when I say he knows more about it than you and me and all of your little friends combined. Although your friends don’t know much to begin with,”_ he muttered. _“Going after Shido is a mistake. If I can’t kill you, then at least go into hiding and live out your life under a new name.”_

“Why are you telling me this?”

He was silent on the other end for a moment. _“I believe Shido suspects you’re still alive. If the truth comes to light that I failed to kill you, I’ll be killed in your stead. I’m sure you understand why I’d like to avoid that.”_

“But you had the opportunity and you didn’t take it.”

_“Are you inviting me to try a third time? I’m sure with injuries like those it would be easy this time around.”_

“Akechi--”

The boy gave a sigh of disgust. _“I told you not to waste my time and you did so anyway.”_

“Akechi, wait--”

_“At least think over what I said, will you? Or the next time I see you I won’t hesitate to take you out.”_

The call ended and Akira stared at his phone. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to make his point or ask Akechi to join the Thieves in taking Shido down.

He didn’t doubt that there would be another chance to. He still needed to discuss the man with the rest of his friends, and then there were his keywords to figure out. And it sounded as though Akechi already knew them.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> November 28th  
> The Phantom Thieves continue looking for Shido's keywords

If Goro was being completely honest, he was getting increasingly tired of waking up as Kurusu. It was harder and harder to put on his doe-eyed act when he’d tried to blow the boy’s brains out twice. So when he woke up in Leblanc instead of his own apartment that day, the first word out of his mouth was a weary “Fuck.”

Morgana stirred beside him. “Are your injuries bothering you? I could get Sojiro if you want.”

That was enough to pull him out of his tired daze. “No! No, I’m fine.” The last thing he needed was Sakura-san checking on him and realizing ‘Kurusu’ was acting odd.

His phone went off on the shelf beside him and he threw an arm over his eyes, content to just ignore it and go back to sleep. His days as Kurusu were the only times he got such a luxury, if nothing else.

“You should probably answer that,” the cat said helpfully, and he once again resisted the urge to lock him outside and hope a pack of dogs got to him.

The buzzing persisted and he finally gave in and grabbed it, his wounds aching as he stretched.

bonkin  
were meeting up today right  
#1 Shiho Stan  
another day of trying to figure out keywords  
Burger Queen  
but weve already tried so many times and nothing has been a hit. what are we going to do if we cant figure them out?  
Kung Fu Panda  
we have his name and location, if nothing else. i have a good feeling about today, like well figure out the distortion.  
bonkin  
lol yeah right  
Tech Master >:3  
if only our leader would give us some words of encouragement or wisdom  


He scowled at the phone. The girl had said that she’d had the café bugged, which meant she almost certainly knew it wasn’t Kurusu reading their messages.

bonkin  
nah hes still asleep i guarantee it  
#1 Shiho Stan  
futaba let him sleep, he probably needs it  


Goro was almost touched by how much they seemed to care for him. Almost. They’d still sent him into the interrogation room with a plan that could’ve been completely undone if he’d so much as checked his phone. Their precious leader would’ve died if even the slightest thing went wrong. And he’d _still_ been beaten and drugged for information. What kind of teammates let one of their own endure such a thing? Goro was glad he worked alone. The work might’ve been harder, but at least he only had to worry about himself.

Still, it seemed they were serious about targeting Shido. Not that they’d ever figure out the man’s distortion without him helping them. He had a feeling it was going to be a very long meeting and messaged Kurusu.

Detective Boy  
  
Why does it feel like I’m dealing with all of your friends every time we swap? Are you coordinating these meetings based on the number of days it’s been since our last?  
  


There was no response and his eye twitched. _That fool had better be in a meeting or something, and not still asleep. I have a schedule to keep and he’s constantly ruining it. Does he not understand how hard it is to come up with excuses for his behavior?_

He realized his wounds _were_ bothering him and he dragged himself to the desk, where a menagerie of pills and papers sat. Goro considered himself somewhat of an expert on reading people's handwriting, having grown up around all kinds of people and often being in a rush himself. He was fairly certain he could read anything put in front of him, but the shorthand from Kurusu’s doctor, he assumed, was absolutely illegible.

There was the sound of footsteps approaching and he whipped around, his body protesting.

“Feeling better today?” Sakura-san asked.

“Ah, much,” he said, and then immediately cursed himself. How many days had he spent as Kurusu at that point? Far too many for him to be making rookie mistakes like using his own speech patterns.

“Curry’s ready,” he said, not seeming to notice the boy’s slip up, or perhaps just not caring. “Do you know what time your friends are coming over?”

He glanced over at the phone but none of them had offered up a time. “After school? Maybe?”

“Figured as much. I know of a few regulars that’ll probably stop by, so your meeting might be pushed back if they don’t come right after.”

“I’ll let them know,” he said through a tight lipped smile.

He turned to go back downstairs but snapped his fingers. “Almost forgot, that doctor from the clinic down the street is here to see you. I’ll give you a minute to get ready.”

“What?”

He didn’t say anything else and Goro turned to Morgana, who was stretching. “If Tae’s here I’ll take a walk for awhile. Just leave the window open when I can come back, okay? Don’t lock me out like last time!”

Then he was alone in the attic and scrambling to collect his thoughts. _What the hell is going on? What kind of relationship does Kurusu have with his doctor if she just drops by unannounced like this?_

 _No,_ he reasoned, _it’s just because of his injuries. She doesn’t want him walking to the clinic._

“Kid, you decent?” came a voice from downstairs and he swore under his breath.

“Just a moment!”

He got changed in record time, wincing at the stretch on his wounds, and sat down at the desk just as the click of heels on wood filled the attic.

She studied the room a moment before her gaze landed on him. “I don’t often make house calls, you know. Especially for patients who think they’re healed enough to wander the city, even after they’ve been told to stay put. You’re not much use as a guinea pig if you’re hurt.”

She certainly didn’t _look_ like a doctor, save for the white coat. She didn’t seem to act like one either. What the hell had Kurusu gotten himself into?

Then she was in his face and he drew back as far as he could, the wood digging into his back and pressing against bruises. She looked past him and instead focused on the bottles on the desk.

“No side effects from those, right?”

He shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

“Alright, let’s take your vitals.” She pulled a stethoscope out of her bag and he yelped as she pressed the cold metal to his chest. “Your heart’s racing,” she said with a smirk. “Something got you excited?”

Goro decided he was going to have a _very long talk_ _with Kurusu_ about the company he was keeping.

“I’m teasing. You must be in worse shape than I thought if you fell for that. All the more reason you shouldn’t be going all over the city. Need I remind you you’re supposed to be playing dead as well?”

He just tried to keep his breathing even as she poked and prodded at him, occasionally wincing as she hit a particularly sore spot.

“I think the worst of it is still your ribs and your leg,” she said after awhile. “Any difficulty breathing?”

“Nothing unmanageable,” he said, his gaze fixed on the floor.

“I’ll write you a prescription to refill those just in case things flare up again, because that look in your eyes tells me you’re plotting something you probably shouldn’t be doing. Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thank you,” he said through grit teeth, wishing she’d just leave already.

She studied him for a moment. “I hope you’re back to normal soon, Kurusu-kun.”

He wondered what the hell she meant by that. There was no way she’d figured him out. Besides the fact that there was no science or logic behind whatever was happening to him and Kurusu, she’d only seen him once. The rest of the Thieves had yet to figure out what was going on and it had been three months.

_Although if she did realize something was up, it just proves that the Phantom Thieves are woefully incompetent friends._

There was a tapping at the window and he jumped as he realized Morgana was staring at him.

“I thought you said you were going to wait for me to let you in.”

“I watched Tae leave and you didn’t do anything,” he said, his tail lashing. “I told you not to leave me out there but you did it again! Hey, how come your face is all red?”

* * *

Akira felt as though he were going insane. He knew his friends were supposed to meet up that afternoon to go over Shido’s keywords again, and he didn’t trust Akechi not to say anything incriminating after their last conversation. His leg wouldn’t stop bouncing and he’d already had to apologize to the girl in front of him twice.

He had _no idea_ what the teacher was talking about and just kept his head down and pretended to take notes. He knew he was done for if he got called on but didn’t care enough to actually try to pay attention. The staff already had it out for Akechi because he was constantly missing classes for police work--

An idea began to form, and he couldn’t stop himself from tapping his pencil as he willed the clock to go faster.

He made it through class without the teacher asking him anything and he was out the door before the bell had finished ringing.

The woman in the office seemed to recognize him and sighed. “Another meeting, Akechi-kun?”

“Sorry, it’s urgent. There’s a new case. Can’t tell you anything about it, what with confidentiality and all.” He gave her a smile he hoped looked both polite and apologetic.

She just gave him a once over and signed him out, and Akira had to stop himself from all but running out the gate.

His first instinct was to go to Leblanc but he knew that was impossible. Aside from the fact that it was the middle of the day and if he was seen taking the train to Yongen-Jaya he’d be caught, it was clear Sojiro wanted nothing to do with the detective. He drummed his fingers along his leg, full of energy he didn’t know what to do with.

He briefly debated texting Akechi to come up with some kind of plan but figured the boy wouldn’t respond. Not after their phone call the week before. The detective had done his best to avoid him, not even stopping by Leblanc for coffee. Akira didn’t even want to imagine how the meeting that afternoon was going to go down.

He realized he was still lingering in front of the gate. He needed to get away from the school before they realized he was ditching.

Almost before he knew what he was doing he found himself on the train to Kichijoji.

He knew the Jazz Jin wouldn’t be open yet but the whole area was more popular with young adults rather than students. Even if he was spotted, there was little chance he’d wind up on someone’s social media.

He played with his bangs out of habit but found that it only made his hair worse and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

The train lurched as it reached the station and he forced himself to walk slowly to the promenade, his shoulders back and smiling at those around him. He’d learned very early on that as long as he acted like he belonged, most people wouldn’t bat an eye.

From there it was all too easy to reach Penguin Sniper and the man at the desk greeted him brightly.

“I haven’t seen you in awhile, Akechi-kun. You had me worried you’d found somewhere better.”

“Nowhere better than here,” he said with a slightly stilted laugh.

Finally he was given his darts and made his way to the machine farthest from the desk and the other patrons.

_This all started back in September and we still don’t know why._

He lined up his first shot and took a deep breath before throwing, watching as it hit the board with a satisfying _thwack_. Bullseye.

_Then I had to go poking around where I shouldn’t have and found out Akechi is the one behind the mental shutdowns._

_Thwack_. Bull.

_Then I had to keep digging and found out not only is he the one behind the shutdowns, he’s been doing this since he was fifteen and is working for none other than Masayoshi Shido._

_Thwack_. He just missed the center and instead got a twenty.

_And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Akechi has been ordered to kill me and my friends, and he’s tried to go through with it twice now._

_Thwack_. A six, and nowhere near the center of the board.

_And then when I confront him about it, he deflects and tells me to go into hiding instead! As if that’s going to solve any of my problems!_

The dart missed completely and instead clattered to the floor. He realized his hands were shaking as he collected it and lined up once more.

_I understand that it’s his neck on the line if he doesn’t go through with Shido’s tasks, but why doesn’t he take his own advice and go into hiding instead? I’m not just going to uproot my entire life because he told me to! And neither would the others!_

_Thwack_. A one.

He grabbed the darts and resisted the urge to just throw them across the room. It was tempting, though. He didn’t know why he was still bothering to protect the detective’s reputation when he’d already tried to put a bullet in his brain twice. It was clear Akechi didn’t care about him. The only reason he’d told him to go into hiding was to save himself, not Akira. He shouldn’t have cared about Akechi. He didn’t understand why he still did.

He remembered what the boy had told him once, that pretending to be a bleeding heart was exhausting and he didn’t understand how he could do it for real when everyone else was just out to get something for themselves. He’d laughed it off at the time, but in that moment he thought he understood.

* * *

Goro wondered about the series of choices that had led to where he was in that moment, stuck in a booth at Leblanc and sandwiched between Takamaki and the wall, with Sakamoto and Niijima opposite him and the rest of the Thieves scattered around. He felt as though he were suffocating and it was only partly because of whatever perfume Takamaki was wearing.

“Mt. Fuji.”

_“Conditions have not been met.”_

“Mansion.”

_“Conditions have not been met.”_

“School?”

“Arena.”

“Imperial palace!”

_“Conditions have not been met.”_

He bit at the inside of his cheek to stop himself from doing something stupid. It was downright torturous to hear them all guess without any real ideas when he knew the answer.

“You’ve been quieter than usual, Akira. Have you thought of anything?” Okumura asked.

“It doesn’t even have to make sense, we’re just throwing out whatever we think of,” Sakamoto added.

“Diamond mine,” he said flatly, it being the furthest from the truth he could think of.

_“Conditions have not been met.”_

The younger Sakura had been messing around on her computer since the meeting had begun and the clicking was getting on his nerves. “Strip club,” she said out of nowhere.

_“Conditions have not been met.”_

“ _Futaba_ ,” Kitagawa said sharply.

“Hey, he has a lot of fake names linked to a lot of banks and they’re all attached to nightclubs in some way! I’m just going along with the evidence!”

Goro resisted the urge to laugh. They had no idea how true her statement was.

“Yes, women who can’t hold a respectable job so they sell their bodies to men like him,” Niijima muttered, and Goro felt something in him snap.

Before he even knew what he was doing he was on his feet, hands slammed down on the table and leaning in until he was up in her face. “My mother was an escort because people like your _father_ couldn’t do their fucking jobs and lock up people like Shido,” he snarled. “You think she had a choice? She got knocked up and had to leave her _respectable_ _job_ because she wasn’t married, because this society we live in views that as the ultimate taboo. You hope to become a police commissioner but you can’t even think before you open your fucking mouth, can you?”

He realized too late the café had gone silent, and even Sakura’s incessant tapping had stopped. She was the first to break the spell that seemed to be holding them in place with an aptly put “ _Holy shit_.”

The others just stared at him and he slowly sat back down as he realized what he’d done. He glanced at Sakura, nodding towards the rest of them, and hoped she got the message.

“I can’t fix this,” she said, fighting back laughter. “You’re on your own, Akechi.”

He was acutely aware of how easy it would be to overpower her and wring the life out of that scrawny neck. He didn’t get the chance as everyone started talking at once.

Well, if there was truly no point in pretending to be Kurusu anymore. “Does anyone else find it funny that you all consider yourselves to be his best friends, and yet you couldn’t figure out that there was an imposter among you for the past three months? Or is it just me?”

“Akira, what the _fuck_ \--”

“Stop _calling me that_ ,” he snapped. “Clearly I’m not your precious leader. Did you not hear what the menace said?”

Sakamoto was the first to try again, bless his stupid heart. “Did you hit your head or something? Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“None once I tear them off,” he said darkly. He turned back to the girl, who was still laughing and furiously tapping away at her phone again. “Would you shut up and explain it to them? I’m sure you have some way to phrase it that they’ll understand.”

She put her phone down--Had she been recording them? He’d have to get his hands on that later--and shot him the smuggest grin he’d ever seen. “How am I supposed to explain it if you want me to shut up?”

“Unless you want to end up like your mother--” he started.

“Okay, okay,” she said between fits of giggles. “So you know body swapping? Like, in manga and stuff?”

* * *

Akira had been in the middle of looking around the apartment again when his phone buzzed. He chose to ignore it and continue his hunt for anything interesting. He’d found another gun in the closet, or maybe the same one, and several knives tucked away in odd places. He’d even found one in an empty box of cereal in one of the cabinets he’d ignored the first time around. It was clear Akechi wasn’t an amatuer.

 _Of course not, he’s been killing for Shido since he was fifteen_ , he thought bitterly.

The phone continued to go off and he finally picked it up to find a string of messages from Futaba.

Tech Master >:3  
  
AKIRA HOLY SHIT  
  
AKIRA  
  
AKIRA AKIRA AKIRA  
  
AKECHI FUCKED UP  
  
oh my god ryuji looks so confused  
  
makoto is in SHOCK  
  
this is so funny  
  
“help me” akechi says  
  
nah ur on ur own you fucked this up  
  
i wish you could see this  
  
hold on maybe i can record it and he wont notice  
  
shit shit shit he saw  
  
mission failed well get em next time  
  


They cut off just as suddenly as they’d started and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He had no idea what she was talking about, but Akechi must’ve done something pretty bad if she was bothering to report it.

He turned back to the pile of weapons he had spread out and idly twirled a knife around. It wasn’t like the kitchen knife he’d threatened the boy with the week before. It almost resembled the dagger he used in the metaverse.

The buzzing started again and he was about to just mute the phone entirely when he realized the messages weren’t from Futaba.

Kitagawa  
  
if this is some kind of prank you and akira planned, it isnt very funny  
  


Okumura  
  
akechi whats going on, what does futaba mean by body swapping  
  


Takamaki  
  
three months and you didnt tell us. is this why you were acting so weird at school??  
  


Sakamoto  
  
dude wtf is going on why is akira saying hes you  
  


Niijima  
  
if you really are akira, i just want to know why you told akechi about my father. I told you that in confidence.  
  


His stomach dropped. _What the hell did he say?_

Whatever it was, it was clear they’d been caught in the act.

He had no idea how he was supposed to explain. His stomach churned at the thought of it.

He was in the middle of typing out the most concise explanation he could when he got one more message from a number he was all too familiar with.

Kurusu  
  
We both knew this was bound to happen eventually. I’m amazed it took as long as it did.  
And for the record, it was worth it to see the look on Niijima’s face.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've wanted goro to go off on makoto since i started this fic. it only took ten chapters to get there. 
> 
> this is going on HIATUS! between schoolwork and other projects i'm not allowed to talk about, i don't have the time or motivation for this at the moment. that's not to say this is being abandoned, as i already have chapter 11 written but un-beta'd. i *will* come back to this... eventually.
> 
> so yeah. have fun imagining what the thieves will do to akira once they swap back and he has to face his friends after lying to them for three months :3

**Author's Note:**

> remember how i said i'd been working on something for three months? yeah this is it. this fic is my child, i have put 44k words into it so far and i have three more chapters to write. i have *so much planned* and i'm even messing with things like formatting, as seen above, so if you do decide to stick around there's a lot of fun things in store.
> 
> this originally started out as a Your Name AU but without the time travel or red string of fate and then i went "hmm that's just a body swap AU" and now here we are. 
> 
> HUGE thanks to my friends, i would not have come up with the chat names or some of the later antics without you guys. if you're reading this please yell at me to work on chapter twelve. 
> 
> updates every friday
> 
> comments are one of my biggest motivators and i have poured everything i have into this fic, so if you did like it please consider leaving a few words?


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